Revisit law on sharing of political parties’ fund
What you need to know:
- Opposition parties affiliated to the National Super Alliance (Nasa) are haggling over sharing of the cash among the partners.
- Many parties go into elections as coalitions and therefore the expectation is that when funding is disbursed, all members of the alliance expect to benefit.
Controversy has been raging in political cycles over the sharing of the parties’ fund. In particular, opposition parties affiliated to the National Super Alliance (Nasa) are haggling over sharing of the cash among the partners.
This is because one of the entities, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), has been benefiting at the expense of the other coalition members. Last week, ODM called on the Registrar of Political Parties to arbitrate over the Nasa partners’ cash dispute.
And there is a reason to tackle this matter conclusively because of its implication on future political coalitions and the whole question of empowering parties to participate in democratic processes.
Underpinning this is the fact that parties require financial muscle to mobilise, organise and competitively participate in elections.
The reason why cash sharing is becoming contentious is that many parties go into elections as coalitions and therefore the expectation is that when funding is disbursed, all members of the alliance expect to benefit.
Pre-election coalitions
Yet it does not work like that. Cash is given to individual parties and that means some coalition partners are locked out in the sharing formula. This calls for legal and administrative redress.
Although in an ideal situation parties could enter into an agreement on cash sharing as they ink the pre-election coalitions, the reality is that such agreements are never honoured. Which perhaps is what is happening now.
According to the Political Parties Act, the National Treasury is required to allocate 0.3 per cent of the national government revenue to finance activities of political parties with the express goal of advancing democracy. The cash is allocated on a proportional basis determined by the number of parliamentary seats won by a party. Parties that do not meet the threshold are locked out.
In the latest disbursement, only two parties, Jubilee and ODM, qualified and benefitted from the funds. Given the unfolding scenario, we need to revisit the law and create a working formula that serves political parties and coalitions.
