Lobby to contest parties’ funding

By LONAH KIBET

A lobby group is planning to appeal against the High Court decision that locks out majority of political parties from accessing the Political Parties Fund.

The Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD) chairman Omingo Magara argued that the decision was unconstitutional and discriminatory as it favoured only three political parties, locking out more than 50 others.

“It purports to establish a high and discriminatory threshold for political party funding... There is a danger of killing democracy if we approach the situation this way,” said Magara.

He said the Act on funding parties violated the Constitution under articles 10 and 38, arguing that any other law that is inconsistent with the Constitution is considered null and void.

“The Constitution, in Article 10, stipulates public participation and democracy as national values while Article 38 proclaims the right to vote and to be elected among other rights,” he said.

He was speaking yesterday at CMD offices where he said the lobby group was preparing to argue its case at the Court of Appeal.

The Political Parties Act, Section 25(1) and (2), says that 95 per cent of funds shall be distributed proportionately but only to parties that have secured at least 5 per cent of the total number of votes in the preceding General Election.

Political parties that failed to make the cut of the total votes cast in last year’s General Election lost a court case against the offices of the Registrar of Political Parties, IEBC and the Attorney General challenging the formula adopted in sharing State funding on Monday.

Right for petitioners

The petitioners had argued that as small parties and coalitions of small parties, they have a right to be funded by the Political Parties Fund.

They said the provision in the law requiring a party to have attained 5 per cent of the total votes cast was unreasonably high, terming it discriminating and unconstitutional.

Only President Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA, Deputy President William Ruto’s URP and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM parties qualified for a share of the fund.

In his judgment, High Court judge David Majanja said the Political Parties Act did not violate the Constitution and was neither discriminatory nor unconstitutional.