- UDA spirited push to be allocated Sh115 million more from the Political Parties Fund could hit a snag.
- In an affidavit sworn by lawyer Joy Onyango, the office of the registrar wants the tribunal to dismiss UDA's case.
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A spirited push by President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance party to be allocated Sh115 million more from the Political Parties Fund could hit a snag.
This is if the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal agrees with the formula by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties on the sharing of the parties fund.
In an affidavit sworn by lawyer Joy Onyango, the office of the registrar wants the tribunal to dismiss UDA's case.
The President's party is challenging the ORPP formula for the distribution of the fund among qualifying parties saying it was unlawfully denied Sh115 million.
In the formula, the ruling party was given a share of Sh577 million from the Sh1.48 billion Political Parties Fund.
The tribunal has since suspended the distribution of the fund pending a hearing of the dispute.
The entire kitty for the political parties in the 2022/23 financial year will benefit at least 48 political parties.
The UDA party is arguing that the ORPP did not consider votes garnered in Kericho Woman Representative and Ravine Ward Member of County Assembly elections.
In both cases, the UDA candidates were elected unopposed in the August general elections.
According to UDA if votes from these electoral areas are computed, then the ORPP owes the party Sh115 million.
But the registrar’s office says the formula she used to distribute the political parties' funds was correct, transparent and that UDA is not entitled to any extra allocation.
The registrar says she considered the votes garnered by each political party and the elective seats won by the party.
She argues that qualifying political parties were engaged on the distribution of the fund including details on the formula and data on the distribution of the fund.
The top five beneficiaries of the fund include UDA, ODM, Jubilee, Wiper and DAP-K. Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) got an allocation of Sh308 million followed by the Jubilee Party of former President Uhuru Kenyatta with an allocation of Sh135 million.
UDA through lawyer Adrian Kamotho Njenga, argues that the registrar miscalculated the total number of votes garnered by qualifying parties in regard to the election of the President, MPs, Governors and MCAs.
Njenga says that UDA has unlawfully deprived of funds in excess of Sh115 million that it is rightfully entitled to, hence jeopardizing its activities and operations.
“In arriving at the fund allocations, the Registrar totally disregarded the UDA’s unopposed votes in relation to the positions of Kericho County Women Representative and Member of County Assembly Ravine Ward, Baringo County,” says Kamotho.