By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has scored a major win in its protest over the government’s decision to reduce an allocation to political party funds.
ODM had moved to court to challenge the decision by the National Assembly to pass a supplementary budget that saw an allocation to the Political Parties Fund slashed by Ksh800,000.
But on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, the High Court declared the decision null and void.
In its ruling, High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ruled that an allocation to the political parties fund is ring-fenced and hence cannot be reduced by a supplementary budget.
“Having considered the petition and arguments by the parties, and aware of the decision of the Court of Appeal on this issue, the inseparable conclusion I come to, is that the National Assembly has a positive statutory obligation to allocate to the Political Parties Fund money that is not less than zero point three per cent of revenue collected by the national government,” Justice Mwita said in part of the ruling.
“An order is hereby issued quashing and or annulling note No. R131 in the Second Schedule to the supplementary appropriation act (no.3) of 2023 published in the Kenya Gazette,’ the judge added.
The act was published on November 24, 2023.
Sharing the ruling on his social media pages, Nairobi Senator who is also the ODM Secretary General termed it a big win for political parties.
“The High Court has this afternoon upheld the position of @TheODMparty that it was illegal for the KK regime to cut 800m from the Political Parties Fund through its first supplementary budget in 2023,” Sifuna said in a post on his verified X handle.
“This is a big win for Political Parties as institutions of democracy,” he added.
With the latest ruling, political parties are now set to get more allocation.
ODM and the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) were allocated the lion’s share of the Political Parties Fund in the current financial year due to their superior number of elected leaders in Parliament and County Assemblies across the country.