The Election Campaign Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was a bill to amend the Elections Campaign Financing Act, 2013 and the connected purposes meant to have been in place and used during the last general and subsequent by-elections.
It is now cited as the Election Campaign Financing (Amendment) Act, 2020.
The object of the Act was to give effect to Article 88(4) (i) of the Constitution, make provisions enabling the electoral commission to regulate the amount of money used by or on behalf of a candidate or a party in respect of an election or a referendum, promote transparency and accountability in election campaign financing and require parties and candidates to report campaign financing in a structured manner.
The basic operational structures for parties in Kenya remains a grey area of concern since 2011, when their governance and management shifted from the Registrar of Societies to the Registrar of Political Parties with the enactment of the Political Parties Act, 2011.
Prior, parties did not have legal personality or perpetual succession, but basically belonged to individuals. Some people formed political parties as conduits of socio-economic trade for financial gains. But the establishment of the Political Parties Act provides a legal framework for registration, regulation and funding. The Act established the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, responsible for overseeing, implementing and enforcing the law.
Since the inception of the Political Parties Act 2011 in line with other IEBC election laws, the majority of parties and politicians by and large have remained untenable, resistant to the rule of law and have continued to flaunt elections regulations at free will.
Disobeying and violating rules formulated “by-themselves” either at the county assembly, National Assembly or Senate and respecting the laws selectively is retrogressive, an abuse to the sovereignty of the people and mandated offices tasked to oversight and enforce.
Changing guard at the IEBC commission every five years is not a lasting antidote. The commission needs enhanced professionalism, ethics, integrity and an enabling environment with trust between the players for an optimum service delivery. This can be largely achieved by nurturing a strong working and reporting foundation between political parties, candidates and the commission, guided by law.
With over 70 fully registered parties in Kenya, many are dormant and actively resurface a few months to the general election. Majority lack formal structures and rarely participate in strengthening themselves through grassroots’ organisation and recruitment, civic education on party manifestos, constitutions and the general election rules. They neither have physical offices nor staff.
A few that benefit from the political party’s exchequer fund and monthly membership subscriptions have scanty records and audit trails on how they utilize the funds. The methodology of allocating these funds has been a bone of contention as well the formulae of sharing the same among parties and coalitions.
The Election Campaign Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2020 proposed amendments meant well and good for the purposes of strengthening internal managerial and administration of political parties and candidates. It sought to provide a fair level playing ground with transparency and accountability; henceforth addressing perennial problems that occur during election period.
Dennis Wendo is the founder, Integrated Development Network
