Monday, November 16, 2009

We want some..

Two affiliates of the Party of National Unity (PNU) coalition have written to the Registrar of Political Parties demanding their share of the Sh200 million political parties fund.

Safina and Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) wrote to Lucy Ndung’u through Kounah & Company Advocates on Friday asking her to adhere to the law in the distribution of the Political Parties’ Fund.

The two parties want the funds distributed directly to individual parties as per the Act as opposed to the coalition.

“It is our clients’ position that the Act is clear and you are bound to only consider the distribution of the funds on a pro rata basis in accordance with the number of votes cast for the parliamentary and civic candidates even when parties opted to support a presidential candidate of a different political party,” they stated .

Safina has seven Members of Parliament in the 10th Parliament while CCU has two MPs.

There are 47 political parties which met the provision of the Act after it came into force with more than 250 having existed before the 2007 General Election.

Some of them were locked out after failing to beat the December 31, 2008 deadline to comply with the Political Parties Act.

ODM is set to receive Sh61.2 million - while its coalition partner, PNU, will get Sh51 million.

PNU coalition partners include the Democratic Party, Ford-Kenya, Kanu, Ford-People, Narc-Kenya, Safina and New Ford-Kenya.

All PNU’s affiliates want the money shared equally, saying there was no party called PNU at the time of the election and what existed was a coalition of parties with a mandate to ensure President Kibaki's re-election.

According to the Political Parties Act, 15 percent of the funds, or Sh30 million, shall be distributed equally to all registered political parties.

It further stipulates that 80 percent (Sh160 million) shall be proportionately shared according to votes secured in the last general election by each party's Presidential, Parliamentary and civic candidates.

The remaining five percent is for administration expenses of the Fund.

The 47 registered political parties that meet the requirements of the Political Parties Act qualify for the funding.

Each will get Sh750,000 and additional money depending on the number of votes its Presidential, Parliamentary and council election candidates got in the 2007 General Election.

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