- Osotsi said the amended Political Parties Act gives the registrar a role in regulating the operations of parties.
- Some parties collect fees but end up issuing direct ticket.
Image: GEORGE MURAGE
A storm is brewing over 'exorbitant' fees charged by political parties to aspirants seeking their tickets.
A number of aspirants who spoke to the Star termed the fees announced by major parties as unnecessarily too high.
A UDA aspirant, who declined to be named, told the Star that parties are taking advantage of the desperation of aspirants to make a killing.
"If you are not in the category of youth, women or people with special needs, then you have to contend with higher charges," the aspirant who is eyeing a parliamentary seat in Nairobi said.
The same sentiments were expressed by aspirants in ODM. A Woman Representative aspirant told the Star that she decided to vie for the seat due to the high charges, even though her initial plan was to go for the governor's post.
She said Sh500,000 being charged is out of reach for women candidates.
"I know many women are suffering in silence. There should be special consideration for women and youth," she said.
She asked the party to reduce the fees to increase the number of women going for various political seats.
On average, big outfits charge Sh500,000 for the governor’s ticket and half the amount for those seeking seats in the Senate and National Assembly.
Those eyeing MCA seats pay between Sh25,000 and Sh50,000.
UDA has slashed by half nomination charges for women and youth aspirants.
The outfit has waived charges for people living with disability seeking to fly the UDA flag.
On Friday, a section of leaders urged Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu to rein in on parties out to make a killing ahead of the primaries.
Nominated MPs Godfrey Osotsi and David Sankok told Nderitu to intervene as the crucial exercise risks being turned into a money minting business.
The lawmakers pointed accusing fingers at some fringe parties they claimed have opened shop to sell tickets to the highest bidders.
Records at the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties indicate that 82 political parties are duly registered in the country.
Osotsi said the amended Political Parties Act gives the registrar a role in regulating the operations of parties especially during nominations.
“Some of these briefcase parties charge nomination fees but they do not conduct the primaries. All they want is money. It is high time the registrar monitors how this money is used,” Osotsi said on the phone.
“There are briefcase parties which are just waiting, they have prepared so many party tickets for MCAs and MPs. They are just waiting for major parties to hold nominations and sell the tickets to the aggrieved losers,” Sankok said.
According to the Jubilee lawmaker, the justification of nomination fees is to organise for election materials and logistics and parties should make a refund in situations they use other means to pick candidates.
“It is immoral, illegal and people can even go to court if after paying nomination fee then you end up in guided democracy. I think negotiation is not expensive because it is the word of the mouth,” Sankok said.
Major political parties are also culprits as some collect the nomination fee from desperate aspirants and end up not conducting primaries and instead issue direct tickets.
For big parties, it is common to have more than 10 aspirants cleared to contest a single elective seat upon payment of the requisite charges.
Sankok termed the move to charge fees by parties and fail to conduct primaries a political "conmanship" that must be addressed in time.
“If there are no party primaries, why did you take the money in the first place? That is what is called political conmanship.”
Political parties are expected to hold their primaries by April 22 latest.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) secretary general David Ohito told the Star that his party is prioritising consensus where more than one aspirant express interest in one seat.
UDM, he said, will avoid universal suffrage and use scientific methods to arrive at candidates where mediation fails to work.
“In the unlikely event the candidates fail to agree, we will do our own assessment and see who is superior of the candidates. In that case we will refund the nomination fee of a candidate whom we feel will not represent us well,” Ohito said.
“We will try and settle on the most popular candidate using a scientific method.”
Edited by A.N