Ruto’s UDA wants Raila’s Azimio denied Sh1.4bn Political Parties Fund
Ruto’s UDA wants Raila’s Azimio coalition la Umoja coalition party denied Sh1.4bn Political Parties Fund.
A Storm is brewing between Raila and Ruto’s coalition parties amid revelations of a fresh plot to deny Azimio funds attributed to the votes garnered by its presidential ticket.
The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) is already processing Sh1.4 billion to be shared between parties that qualify.
The money will be disbursed quarterly starting next month.
According to the Political Parties Act 2022, enacted early this year, a party can only benefit from the fund if it has at least one elected leader.
According to a report in Daily Nation, Ruto’s UDA now claims that no single candidate was elected on Azimio the ticket as they all vied under their individual parties.
Ruto’s allies want the Opposition coalition denied the millions of shillings attributable to the number of votes Raila Odinga garnered in the presidential race.
“Azimio does not have a single member elected on its ticket and the law talks of a party with at least one member. It is that simple,” said Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei of UDA.
He added: “ODM as a party will get its share, just like other parties that have qualified but will lose money attributable to their presidential candidate. We told them when they were bulldozing this law that they would be the casualty of this act.”
UDA chairman Johnson Muthama said the coalition can only benefit from the presidential vote if there is a signed agreement that such funds be channeled to ODM.
“Unless there is an agreement that directs the Political Parties Registrar Anne Nderitu to channel that fund…. I do not want to go into the issue of whether Azimio deserves a share of the exchequer or not, but if the money goes to ODM, it will then be shared based on their internal agreements,” said Mr. Muthama.
“For a party to benefit from the PPF, it must have at least an elected representative, a two-third gender principle compliant composition of office bearers and representation of special interest groups in its governing body,” states the law, in part.
The Act also stipulates that the distribution of 70% of the fund will be proportionate to the total votes received by each political party in the preceding election.
Another official of the opposition coalition, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “When we heard the Kenya Kwanza coalition wanted to take an entire portion of the presidential PPF, arguing that Azimio did not win the presidency to get a coin, some of us approached the ORRP and warned them not to short change Azimio.”
Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni said that there was a general agreement on how the funds that the coalition is set to get as a result of the presidential vote.
This, even as he dismissed the assertion by Kenya Kwanza that the coalition will not get a coin for the presidential vote. He said the coalition will get what is rightfully theirs.
“The good thing is that we had a sharing formula to avoid another scenario that happened in Nasa. We have no quarrel as coalition partners,” said Mr. Kioni. He explained that the coalition is an entity with many political parties that have elected members while terming the assertion by Kenya Kwanza as baseless.
“You cannot steal our presidency, steal our votes, steal our majority leadership right in the National Assembly and now try to steal our money from the political parties’ fund,” said Mr. Kioni.
Also read,
Ruto promises to revive failed Jubilee school laptop project
Azimio accuses Ruto of running government as One-Man Show
Ruto sets one condition ‘hustlers’ must fulfill to access Hustler Fund
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