The Orange Democratic Movement party and Jubilee have been allocated Sh871 million for financial year 2019/20, acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has said.
For years, Treasury has struggled to disburse funds to the major political parties despite the requirements by the constitution of Kenya.
According to the law, 0.3 per cent of national revenue should be directed to the political parties for strengthening operations and democracy.
“The balance of the funds left after taking into account these priorities is hardly enough to finance other programmes of government,” said Mr Yatani in an interview with the Sunday Standard.
According to the CS, the Sh871.2 million allocated to Jubilee and ODM this financial year is an enhancement from Sh371 million that was allocated in 2017/2018 financial year.
But even as the government struggles to raise funds for political parties allocations, plans are underway to amend the law to ensure sustainable funding.
“We are in discussions and are exploring avenues of addressing the situation even if it means proposing amendments to the National Assembly,” said the Treasury CS.
According to Raphael Tuju, the money received by Jubilee will not be shared between its affiliate parties.
“The 13 parties dissolved and therefore we have no affiliates. We are a single party. There is no The National Alliance (TNA), the United Republican Party (URP) or others,” he said.
Recently, ODM party was awarded Sh4 billion by the High Court, an accumulation since 2011. The party is however facing challenges with NASA affiliates also demanding for a share.
There have been several meetings geared towards solving the deadlock but ODM had defiantly indicated that it does not owe affiliates any money.