Days after the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) agreed to share political parties' funds with other NASA affiliates, it now claims that the Political Parties Fund owes it close to Ksh 8 billion.
According to audited financial statements presented to the National Assembly on Friday, August 6, Political Parties Fund owes ODM Ksh7.63 billion accrued over the last eight years.
The total amount includes a pileup from the Ksh4.1 billion that was awarded to ODM by the High Court in 2016 as its rightful share of the amount entitled to it from 2013 to 2016.
This is after the Raila Odinga-led party scored a victory against the National Treasury for failing to comply with the Political Parties Act in the allocation of the funds. The High Court judgment that favored ODM was later reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2019.
Cumulatively, ODM has been allocated about a billion shillings each year since 2013.
"The under-collection of revenue and the under-expenditure affected the planned activities of the party such as the grassroots elections which were not conducted," Auditor General Nancy Gathungu noted in her report.
Registrar of Political Parties, Anne Nderitu, however, claimed that it is beyond her power to compel the National Treasury to remit the allocated funds.
"As an office, we have never achieved what the Act provides. But we seek to continue pronouncing ourselves to the law," Nderitu told the National Assembly.
However, ODM faced one headache in claiming the funds. The party spent Ksh 367.46 million against the approved budget of Ksh 1.5 billion.
Less than a fortnight ago, Raila agreed to share the funds in a written letter addressed to NASA co-principals, revealing that ODM would share Ksh 153 million between its principal members, retaining Ksh 334.6 million of the funds.
Wiper Party led by Kalonzo Musyoka was to receive Ksh 70.4 million, Musalia Mudavadi's Amani National Congress (ANC) Ksh 43.8 million, Moses Wetangula's Ford Kenya Ksh 36.04 million while Isaac Ruto's Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) was to receive Ksh 3.08 million.
