ODM ‘donation’: Wiper to get lion’s share of Nasa cash

Of the Sh487 million ODM has received since 2017, the Orange party will retain Sh334.563 million. Of the Sh153 million, Wiper will take home Sh70.4 million, ANC Sh43.8 million, Ford-Kenya Sh36.04 million and CCM Sh3.08 million. CCM has since joined Deputy President William Ruto’s ‘hustler movement’.

The only funds it will share are those accrued to it based on the number of seats in the National Assembly and the Senate. Thus, it excludes the cash it got based on the number of governors and ward representatives.

Sharing formula

This monies will be shared out based on what ODM received in the three financial years.

In the 2017/2018 allocation, ODM received Sh112.255 million from the exchequer and it will share Sh70. 869 million, while it will release Sh70.86 million from its Sh112.255 million allocation in the 2018/2019 financial year.

In 2019/2020, the Orange party got Sh263.466 million with Sh166.3 million shareable in the coalition in that year. These 2017-2020 shareable figures are the total that are shareable in the coalition, including what ODM is entitled to in that category of MPs and Senate seats.

ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna said the formula is based on the strength of each party through MPs. ODM controls 61 per cent of the coalition, Wiper 18 per cent, ANC 11 per cent, Ford-Kenya nine per cent and CCM one per cent.

“You take the portion of the money attributable to the votes our MPs received. You leave out the governor, MCA and President. That’s two-thirds of the total amount. Then you take the numbers of MPs from each party and come up with the percentage contribution of each party to the strength of the coalition in Parliament,” said Mr Sifuna.

In the agreement deposited with Registrar of Political Parties Anne Nderitu’s office, the four partners were to benefit equally from the funding attributed to the presidential candidate.

But a decision by Ms Nderitu to exclude the August 8, 2017 election results, which were nullified by the Supreme Court and only use the October 26, 2017 repeat poll, which Nasa boycotted, meant the only funds ODM received were from its show in parliamentary and gubernatorial races.

Funding threshold

“When a coalition partner fails to meet the funding threshold under the Political Party Fund, the sharing formula will take into account the party’s contribution to the coalition strength in Parliament and to the qualifying party's share of the fund,” states the coalition's 2017 agreement 1(e) on the sharing of funds section.

Mr Sifuna, who insisted that the parliamentary vote clause was only applicable in case of a joint nomination, said they were only sharing the funds “for the sake of peace”.

“Kindly note that this settlement has been reached on a strictly without prejudice basis, because they deserve nothing if we are to strictly go by the agreement. In fact, what we are sharing is the ODM share of the fund, not their ‘entitlement’,” said Mr Sifuna.

Since 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee coalition, a union of The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republican Party (URP), has received Sh2.1 billion from the kitty compared to ODM’s Sh999 million.

Caveat

The law states that parties must secure at least three per cent of the total votes in a preceding General Election to qualify, which was only met by Jubilee and ODM. They must also have at least three governors, 20 MPs, three senators, and 40 ward reps.

The caveat means that Wiper, ANC, Ford-Kenya, Gideon Moi’s Kanu and Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua’s Maendeleo Chap Chap, which are big players in national politics, do not qualify for state funding.

Wiper and ANC said yesterday that they will continue with their withdrawal from Nasa despite ODM agreeing to release the funds.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, who is also Wiper vice-chairman, said the funds were not a favour from ODM, but a requirement in law. “The two issues are mutually exclusive. The funds are due by law. The resolution to leave the coalition was passed unanimously,” Mr Kilonzo Jr told the Nation.

ANC deputy party leader Ayub Savula accused ODM of playing games, adding that the coalition could no longer hold. “We are killing Nasa because of mistrust among the partner parties. We don’t trust ODM because of shifting goalposts,” he said.

The Lugari MP said the withdrawal process was being delayed by Ford-Kenya’s internal problems, but expressed optimism that it would be finalised soon.

“We had written to Ms Nderitu but the letter has not been delivered because we wanted to agree with Wiper and Ford-Kenya. We were to have a joint Parliamentary Group meeting today (yesterday), but we are waiting for Ford-Kenya to finalise their part so that all our party leaders can sign the decision to withdraw from Nasa,” he said.

Court’s interpretation

Ford-Kenya deputy party leader Richard Onyonka Tuesday admitted that the two factions were waiting for the matter to be settled in court.

“I don’t see any recourse coming out of all these rather than the court’s interpretation. There have been disagreements in the party, which we can resolve amicably. People need to learn from their mistakes. Sometimes we mess up, forgive each other and move on,” he said.

On political funding, the Kitutu Chache MP said even though ODM had agreed to share cash, it should not be misconstrued to mean things would go back to normal.

“There are certain outstanding issues that have made it difficult for Nasa to stay together as a political vehicle. Nasa started to crumble when there was a decision made for my party leader (Wentagula) to be removed as Senate Minority Leader,” he said.

Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu is the bona fide Ford-Kenya secretary-general. Dr Eseli and Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi are trying to wrestle party from Mr Wetangula’s faction.

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