•Party treasurers will have to make a declaration that all the donations accepted by the party are from permissible donors.
•A donation report will show the full value of the donation, full name and address of the donor as well as the nature of organisation if not an individual.
The electoral commission has sought to bar politicians and their parties from using illicit cash to fund campaigns in the run-up to the 2022 general election.
In new rules, the polls agency seeks to scrutinise accounts of political parties and candidates to prevent inflows of cash from suspect sources.
Politicians have had a field day in the face of no substantive law to provide for a thorough audit of their cash sources and expenditures in the hunt for votes.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in 2017 sought to cap the budget for presidential campaigns but MPs ganged up to repeal the Elections Campaign Financing Act.
IEBC thus lacked legal backing to monitor campaign funds, an effort it resolved to pursue in the 2022 elections.
The amendment reads: “Operation of the Act is suspended and it shall come into force immediately after the general election to be held in 2017.”
For better application in the 2022 vote, the commission has sought that the law is changed to bar political parties from accepting donations they are unable to ascertain the identity of the donor.
Such a donation would be considered as not permissible, according to the proposals contained in the draft Election Campaign Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
The commission, according to the draft proposal, specifies permissible donors to include individuals registered as a voter and registered body corporate carrying on business within Kenya.
Money from an unincorporated organisation of two or more persons which carries on business or other activities wholly or mainly in Kenya and has its main office in Kenya will also be allowed.
Candidates will also be allowed to fund their activities with contributions from a harambee with the proposed law doing away with provisions that allowed haphazard deposits.
A donation report will show the full value of the donation, full name and address of the donor as well as the nature of organization if not an individual.
For corporate donors, parties would have to show their registered names, location and address of the head office and any other particular required by the IEBC.
Presently parties can get money from any person, organisation without much scrutiny, with many cases where the contributions are spent aimlessly.
ODM in December 2016 sued IEBC to challenge the rule which required aspirants to open bank accounts through which their campaign funds were to be channelled and establish committees to run them.
Their argument was the rules, which required the accounts to be opened 12 months before a general election, would have locked out several candidates in the 2017 elections.
In the new dispensation, party treasurers will have to make a declaration that all the donations accepted by the party are from permissible donors.
IEBC also seeks to cap contributions from a single source at 20 per cent of the total contributions received by that candidate, political party or referendum committee.
The commission says it will prescribe the limit beyond which contributions received by a candidate, a political party or a referendum committee from a single source must be disclosed.
At the moment, any transactions above Sh1 million have to be disclosed in measures to contain terrorism financing and the flow of illicit cash.
“The commission has in place an inter-agency collaboration framework it seeks to strengthen towards collaboration with state institutions that are directly subject of the Act,” IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati recently told Senators.
He said the commission has submitted the proposed legislation to the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to facilitate the enactment process.
The regulations which would guide the implementation of the law are before the National Assembly Committee on Delegated Legislation.
IEBC, in the proposed law, would be required to come up with a code of practice setting limits for total contributions, from a single source, paid-up media coverage and loan forming part of a contribution.
The limits will define the amount of money a candidate, political party or referendum committee may receive during the expenditure period, general elections, by-elections, and referendum.
The cap would however not apply to contribution from a candidate to their campaign financing account, or from a political party to its financing account.
In restricting that parties will spend money through their structures, the proposed law has repealed party candidate, party, and independent candidate expenditure committees.
No campaign expenditure will be incurred by or on behalf of a political party unless it is incurred with the authority of the treasurer, a deputy treasurer or a person authorized in writing by the treasurer.
“A person who, without reasonable excuse, incurs any expenses in contravention of the law commits an offence,” the bill reads in part.
The law spells a Sh2 million fine or five years in jail for offenders.
Campaign spending has been limited to the funding rallies and public meetings organised to obtain publicity for an election campaign.
It will also count for expenditure on transport, fees and costs incurred on political party broadcasts as well as advertisement expenses including distribution or dissemination of materials.
Also included are costs for preparation of any manifesto or other document setting out the party’s policies, market research, press conference facilities and any other justifiable expense.
Candidates and political parties will be required to keep records of all income and expenditure relating to electoral campaigns, audit the same and file returns with the IEBC.
In a gazette notice fronted earlier, political parties could receive up to Sh15 billion while single source contributions were capped at Sh3 billion.
Presidential hopefuls’ spending was capped at Sh5 billion while governor, senator, and woman representatives had their spending capped at not more than Sh443 million.
MPs were to spend a maximum of Sh33 million and MCAs up to Sh10 million in the caps that were rendered null and void after MPs amended the Elections Act suspending the campaign financing laws.
ODM opposed the ceilings saying they would “limit the country’s leadership to the monied elite and sanction looting of state resources.”
The proposed law seeks to remove the requirement of the Auditor-General to audit campaign funds and provides for candidates and political parties to account for the same and report to the Commission.
The parties will report on their compliance through quarterly reports throughout the year and monthly reports during the election period.
“The reports shall be accompanied by a statutory declaration by the treasurers stating that all the donations recorded in the report as having been accepted by the party are from permissible donors.
“That during the reporting period, no other donations required to be recorded in the report have been accepted by the party, and no donation other than by a permissible donor has been accepted.”
Edited by Kiilu Damaris