The Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) recently announced the annual allocation from the Political Parties Fund, inevitably leading to questions on the criteria used to determine how much each party gets.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The Fund is established under the Political Parties Act and is mainly financed by the National Government through an allocation equivalent to 0.3 per cent of national revenue. Other recognised sources include membership subscriptions, contributions and donations.

It is , however, worth noting that not every registered political party receives money from the Fund. Registration alone does not make a party eligible for public funding, as a party must first meet the requirements set out in law before it can receive an allocation.

Under the law, a party qualifies for funding if no more than two-thirds of its registered office bearers are of the same gender, its governing body includes representatives of Special Interest Groups, and it has at least one elected Member of Parliament, senator, governor or Member of County Assembly.

📌 What You Need to Know

Once a party meets these requirements, its share of the Fund is determined using a statutory formula.

The largest portion of the kitty, at least 70 per cent, is distributed according to the total number of votes obtained by each party in the preceding General Election.

For instance, if Party A secured twice as many votes as Party B in the preceding General Election, Party A would receive roughly twice as much from the 70 per cent portion of the Fund, all other factors being equal.

A further 15 per cent is distributed based on the number of Special Interest Group candidates elected under each party, while 10 per cent is allocated according to the total number of elected representatives belonging to each party.

The remaining 5 per cent is set aside for the administration of the Fund.

The formula means that qualifying parties can receive vastly different amounts. A party may meet all the eligibility requirements but still receive a smaller allocation because it secured fewer votes or has fewer elected representatives.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke