Registrar of Political Parties, Anne Nderitu now wants a lawsuit filed by President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party seeking a further Ksh115 million from the political parties fund struck out
In a response to the case, Nderitu says the formula she used to distribute the Ksh1.48billion allocated to the 48 political parties was correct and transparent therefore UDA is not entitled to extra allocation.
"It is in the interest of justice that monies meant for the forty-eight political parties are actually released so as not to defeat the objective of the funds as envisioned in the constitution, " the Registrar of Political Parties says.
Nderitu also wants the case thrown out on grounds that the number of elective seats won by Independent candidates was not factored in when calculating funds accruing to the 48 political parties.
"In this regard, the process of allocating the fund to political parties was done in a transparent manner given the number of consultative engagements held with all political parties including UDA," Nderitu informed the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal.
UDA's complaints
In the case, UDA is challenging the formula employed in sharing the Ksh1.4billion where it was allocated Ksh577 million.
The gist of the contention between the Registrar and UDA is whether the ruling party deserves to be allocated funds for votes garnered in the Kericho Woman Rep and the Ravine Member of County Assembly (MCA) elections, where the two UDA candidates were elected unopposed.
UDA says the Registrar failed to consider the said votes and as a result, it was deprived of its due share of the funds in excess of Ksh115 million.
But in response, the office of the registrar says since there were no votes to be considered in terms of the Kericho County Woman Representative and Member of County Assembly Ravine Ward Baringo county as leaders in the two areas were elected unopposed on UDA ticket and there were no votes cast.
In the legal formula of sharing the fund, Nderitu says she considers the votes garnered by each political party and the elective seats won by the party.
In an affidavit sworn by lawyer Joy Onyango, she adds that prior to the distribution of the funds there were various engagements with the qualifying political parties and the subject was the distribution of the fund including the formula and data on the distribution of the fund.
The entire kitty for the political parties in the 2022/23 financial year is Ksh 1,475,000,000 and is meant to be distributed to 48 political parties.
The tribunal has since suspended the distribution of the fund pending a hearing of the dispute.
UDA clarifies
UDA through lawyer Adrian Kamotho Njenga, argues that the registrar miscalculated the total number of votes garnered by qualifying parties in the General Election held on August 9, 2022, in regard to the election of the President, MPs, Governors and MCAs.
Kamotho says that UDA has unlawfully deprived of funds in excess of Ksh115 million that it's 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,” Kamotho says.
He adds that despite multiple requests and prodding, the Registrar failed to disclose to the party the formula employed in arriving at the said amount by indicating the treatment of votes secured by UDA vis-à-vis the total number of qualifying votes.
“The import of the Respondent’s decision is that the UDA shall be unlawfully deprived of funds in excess of Ksh115 million that it's rightfully entitled to hence jeopardizing its activities and operations,” Kamotho added.
He also says that the UDA garnered a total of 205 out of the possible 489 slots in the elections held on August 9 2022. Hence, 15% of the correctly calculated fund by the total votes sums up to Ksh92,753,063.
It is his argument that the total number of representatives from the party elected in the elections was 701 out of 1754 positions, thus entitling the to Ksh59,000,000.
"In light of the foregoing, the sum total of the Political Parties Fund that UDA is entitled to is Ksh 620,246,297. This amount is exclusive of the unopposed votes for Kericho County Women Representative and Member of County Assembly Ravine Ward, Baringo County, " Kamotho claims.
