- The 48 political parties that qualify for state funding suffered a Sh867 million budget cut in the 2023-24 financial year.
- Bosire faulted National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wa over his recent remarks on the budget cuts.
Image: FILE
Opposition leader Raila Odinga's ODM party has protested the drastic reduction in money allocated to political parties by the exchequer.
The party termed unfortunate the decision to slash the Political Parties Fund and urged the Kenya Kwanza administration to rescind the decision.
ODM national treasurer Timothy Bosire said the reduction will cripple operations of political parties.
"It is our constitutional right and all other parties that qualify to get this allocation for purposes of ensuring correct operations of our parties," Bosire said in a statement on Tuesday.
The former Kitutu Masaba MP said that while successive governments have failed to comply with the law in the allocation of the parties' funds, it would be an affront to democracy to again reduce the little funds allocated.
"The constitution requires that at least 0.3 per cent of the national revenues be allocated to help parties grow as public institutions, it is not an individual requirement but a constitutional obligation," Bosire said.
He warned that most of ODM's operations in at least 43 offices across the country risk being disrupted following the budget cuts.
"Over the period, as ODM we have been using these public resources to operate efficiently in meeting our expectations even if the government has not been able to release all that is provided for in the constitution.
"As ODM we operate in 43 counties where we have our offices and staff to pay rent and salaries, whatever little that is released to us we appreciate and account for every cent," the national treasurer said.
The 48 political parties that qualify for state funding suffered a Sh867 million budget cut in the 2023-24 financial year.
In a Gazette notice by the Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu, political parties will now share Sh608 million.
Initially, the fund was allocated Sh1.4 billion.
At the same time, Bosire faulted National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung'wah over his recent remarks on the budget cuts.
He termed the remarks as misdirected especially coming from a senior Kenya Kwanza leader who is aware of the constitutional obligation on funding public institutions.
"I find the statement to be unfortunate to the leadership that has tailored its activities in line with the law," the former MP said.
Speaking in Parliament, the Kikuyu MP had said it would be irresponsible to allocate money to buy "'bread, tea and mandazis at some place in Lavington or Capital Hill."
ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna said the cuts are a deliberate move by Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration to cripple the operations of political parties.
“This is a clear demonstration of the regime’s intent to cripple all key institutions of democracy from Parliament to the Judiciary to the political parties. We shall however not wait on the benevolence of our tormentors. We shall trudge on as we know they intend to stall our activities and operations and return the country to a single-party dictatorship.
“We note, however, the difficult operating environment for political parties with the regime's continued onslaught on funding for political parties. In its very first supplementary budget in September 2023, the regime cut funds allocated to parties by over 60 per cent. This year the onslaught has continued with further cuts.”
The Nairobi senator said the underfunding of parties will lead to the death of most of the political outfits as majority of them depend on the cash for daily operations.