Political parties depending on state funding are headed for tough times as budget cuts start to bite.
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu has told a parliamentary committee that her office has been hit hard by unprecedented budget cuts making it impossible to honour commitment with political outfits.
The fund has recently been a target of serious budget reviews losing almost Sh900 million in adjustments.
In 2022-23 the fund was reduced by Sh590.6 million, reducing the allocation to Sh884.3 million.
Initially, the fund had been allocated Sh1.4 billion.
In the 2023-24 financial year, the kitty suffered a further cut of Sh867 million reducing the allocation to Sh608.3 million.
While appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs (JLAC), Nderitu said her office has been crippled and cannot fund parties in the light of the budget disruptions.
“In the revised estimates of financial year 2023-24, the fund suffered a budget cut of Sh867,000,000 which reduced the budget from the printed estimates of Sh1,475,300,000 to a revised estimates of Sh608,300,000,” she said.
“Office note that the revised amount of of Sh608,300,00 is insufficient to accommodate two quarters that has been received so far amounting to Sh737,650,000. This means that the only balance available from the Sh608,300,000 after disbursement of the first quarter amounting to Sh368,825,000 is Sh239,475,000.”
The balance, Nderitu noted, is less than the second quarter requirement, which stands at Sh368,825,000.
The Registrar of Political Parties warned that her office will not be able to dispatch even the first quarter.
“The implication of disbursing Sh368,825,000 at the moment is that the office will have a negative budget,” Nderitu said.
She told the committee chaired by Tharaka MP Gitonga Murugara that her attempts to raise the concerns with the Treasury is yet to be responded to.
“This office submit that political parties are critical institutions in the promotion of good governance and democracy, and require funds to run their affairs,” she stated.
Political parties depend on the funding to operate offices across the country and this has the potential of crippling the outfits, which by law must have offices in at least half the counties.
Raila Odinga-led ODM party has condemned the move to reduce the political parties funding.
"We wish to draw your attention to the continuous breach of Section 24(1) of the Political Parties Act, 2011 by both the National Treasury and National Assembly. The situation has been exacerbated by the recent blatant reduction set out in Supplementary Estimates 1 of F2023-2024 by a total of Sh867,000,000,” ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said in a letter to Nderitu.
"We note with concern that with the reduction of the fund, political parties will immensely be deprived of the resources to fund programmes and activities contained in their respective work plans for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters as deposited in your office."
