The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on Friday, November 11, launched a complaint against the Registrar of Political Parties for depriving the party of Ksh115 million in the recent allocation of Political Parties funds.
The President William Ruto-led party, through Advocate Adrian Kamotho, filed an application before the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal seeking a breakdown from the registrar’s office on the criteria used to determine the allocations to the respective parties.
In addition, the party requested the tribunal to stay the disbursements of the political party funds until the matter presented was heard and determined.
According to the notice released by the Registrar of Political Parties, UDA was set to receive over Ksh500 million in the political parties fund based on the total votes garnered by its candidates in the August 9 elections.
However, the Ruto-led party stated that the registrar's office failed to factor in the unopposed elections of Kericho woman representative, Beatrice Kemei, and Ravine Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA).
"The respondent has failed to disclose to the appellant the formula employed in arriving at the said amount by indicating the treatment of votes secured by the appellant visà-vis the total number of qualifying votes," the application read in part.
"In arriving at the fund allocations, the respondent totally disregarded the appellant’s unopposed votes in relation to the positions of Kericho County woman representative and Member of County Assembly Ravine Ward, Baringo County.”
The party stated that deprivation of the Ksh115 million would affect its delivery of the functions in promoting the interests of women and marginalized communities.
"Decision to deprive the appellant of its due share of the Political Parties Fund is profoundly incompatible with the laws of Kenya and the Holy Biblical Scriptures," the advocate stated in the application.
The application was supported by an affidavit by UDA's Finance Director Joseph Mulili.
In the notice released by the Registrar of Political Parties on November 5, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was allocated Ksh308 million, while the Jubilee Party and Wiper Party were allocated Ksh135 million and Ksh72 million, respectively, compared to UDA's Ksh577 million.
UDA requested the dispute tribunal to treat the matter with urgency, citing the political funds' gravity.
