ODM’s income of Sh81.8m makes it the richest party

The Orange Democratic Movement has announced an income of Sh81.8 million, making it the richest political organisation so far, as parties started publishing their financial accounts this week ahead of the October 31 deadline.

Only 10 of the 46 registered political parties have published their sources of funding in the public media as required by Section 33 of the Political Parties Act.

So far, ODM, Kanu, Narc-Kenya, Narc, Democratic Party, Safina, National Agenda Party of Kenya, Labour Party of Kenya, Peoples Democratic Party and Ford-Kenya have published their financial statements.

ODM’s partner in the Grand Coalition, PNU, is yet to make its financial statements public. The Act requires all registered parties to publish their statements within three months of each government financial year.

Most parties depend on membership fees and contributions from well-wishers to raise funds, while those that qualify for it benefit from the Political Parties Fund.

ODM announced it has assets worth Sh25.3 million, compared to Sh11.1 million reported in 2009. The orange party also registered the highest surplus at Sh14.7 million this year, a million shillings more than it reported last year.

Of the party’s Sh81.8 million income, Sh67.1 million was listed as expenditure, with Sh25.8 million being used in campaigns.

Most of ODM’s revenue comes from the Political Parties’ Fund, which accounts for Sh59.1 million this year, as it is the largest parliamentary party.

In the 2009/2010 budget, Sh200 million was set aside for the fund. ODM’s next source of income this year was MPs’ contributions at Sh20.3 million, a drop from the Sh36.1 million reported last year.

The party, however, did not get any money from donors this year, unlike in the previous year where they received Sh3.6 million from well-wishers.

Ford-Kenya’s statement showed a total income of Sh10.5 million from membership fees, application fees for National Executive Council, Parliamentary Group contributions and the Political Parties Fund.

Kanu, on its part, has total assets worth Sh7.5 million and gets most of its revenue from the Parliamentary Group contribution, which stands, at Sh4.88 million.

It registered expenses of Sh4.83 million with Sh2.4 million going to salaries and wages. The former ruling party, however, has not received any Political Parties Fund after Narc-Kenya obtained a court injunction blocking PNU from being granted the authority to distribute the money to its affiliates.

Narc-Kenya reported an income of Sh8.4 million, without any of it coming from the fund. Expenses in the accounting period left it with a Sh4,995 surplus. The statement shows that the flower party has Sh7.8 million in assets.

However, other parties in the PNU coalition such as DP, Narc and Ford-Kenya reported they received money from the Political Parties Fund this accounting period.

Narc’s statement showed an income of Sh5 million, including Sh3.2 million from the Political Parties Fund. Its expenses were Sh1.69 million and it has assets worth Sh698,253.

Safina declared it spent Sh5.4 million against an income of Sh5.2 million, which includes Sh4.6 million from the fund. Safina has assets of Sh734,951.

The National Agenda Party of Kenya registered an income of Sh639,610 and spent Sh637,414. The party received Sh638,295 from the fund.The Peoples Democratic Party has assets worth Sh265,629 and spent Sh1.16 million against an income of a similar amount.

The income of the Labour Party of Kenya was Sh2.4 million while its expenses were Sh2.3 million. The party has assets worth Sh403,634.

In addition to publishing their sources of income, parties are obliged to file their constitutions, and lists of members and party officials and any changes to these with the Registrar of Political Parties.

Failure to do so can attract both criminal and punitive measures, including deregistration.