References: After the 1992 withdrawal of electoral spending dealings, there have been no regulations governing fundraising. After many attempts to establish state funding for political parties, 2007 saw the passage of the Political Parties Bill, which was, however, not assented to by the president. The Bill would have established the framework for state funding of parties. See [ LINK ]. Also see [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: There are no restrictions. Individuals may contribute huge sums of money to political parties of their choice without any hindrance whatsoever.

References: There are no laws governing such contributions. See the Web sites in 20a.

References: There are no such laws. See the Web sites of 20a for some details. There have been allegations linking some major financial scams to political funding, such as the Goldenberg scandal of the early 1990s, which was seen to have bankrolled KANU's retention of power in 1994. More recently, ODM has claimed the government's rush to privatize its assets in the lead mobile phone operator, Safaricom, has been fuelled by the desire for finances ahead of the December 2007 general election.

References: There is no current law limiting total party expenditures. Indeed, the ruling party often finds it conveniently difficult to distinguish its own resources from those of the government, with sitting ministers and other officials openly using their offices - including official cars, aides, telephones, etc. - to campaign. See the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights report on such misuse of office at [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: The law is still silent on this matter.

References: There are no such laws; but the impending Political Parties Bill will address the issue. Even if a scrutiny of income tax returns were a cost-effective means of investigating political expenditure, the picture would likely be incomplete as Kenyans are not meticulous with income tax returns.

References: The Societies Act (Cap 108) under which political parties are registered requires them to submit annual audited returns which have been duly endorsed by an annual general meeting, failing which the party could be de-registered. However, this would not provide access to the financial activities of individual candidates. Further, the Kenya political party landscape has been extensively muddied in an era of convenient ad hoc coalitions. The outgoing president no longer belongs to the party which brought him to power in 2002, now belonging to a 2007 coalition called the Party of National Unity, which also encompasses the main opposition party from the 2002 elections, KANU.

Peer Review Comments: Indeed, parties are use-and-dump vehicles for politicians. Politicians have no loyalties to parties, and thus any strong auditing of parties is of no consequence.

References: Other than the requirements of the Societies Act (Cap 108) for political parties, there is no other pertinent law.

Peer Review Comments: There is a need to introduce such a law to ensure prudent monitoring on the use of political financing.

References: There are no such limits. Indeed, it is not clear if the Registrar of Societies even keeps proper party returns, as the last year has seen some curious party feuding that could not have been sustained against proper party records.

References: No limits exist to corporate donations to parties. Indeed, most wealthy politicians hardly seem to recognize the divide between their corporate enterprises and their political activities.

References: There are no limits to party funding. Indeed, many party overlords are rich business folk who hardly distinguish party from corporate affairs and/or resources.

References: The Registrar of Societies is the custodian of party affairs, but hardly pursues this function until the eve of electioneering, or when the government wishes to intimidate perceived threats.

Peer Review Comments:

Peer Review Comments: It has not been a practice in the past. However, this time around, a research organization supported by the United Nations Development Programme instituted investigations into the just-ended party nominations in the country. It came up with startling information that some candidates had used more than 11 million shillings (US$173,913) during the nominations period in only one constituency. The results exposed even the electorate, who were demanding money to attend and listen to a political candidate.

References: It is unlikely that any party has been penalized for funding improprieties, as there are no hard and fast regulations guiding this. If at all, there may be an obscure/low key party which has been subjected to intimidation, but this did not reach the media.

References: This would only be to the extent that party returns are duly completed and submitted to the Registrar. However, Kenyan parties do not even hold regular annual general meetings (AGM), meaning that were their accounts to be audited, they could not regularly be approved by such an AGM.

References: This is not a requirement in law or practice.

Peer Review Comments: Parties are required to hold annual general meetings and present audited reports to the registrar general. But little enforcement is done in this area.

References: Where returns are submitted to the Registrar, it is possible for anyone to pay for a search of such records. However, the finances of individual politicians are inaccessible.

References: The search fee at the Registrar of Societies' office is a nominal Kshs 200 (USD$3).

Peer Review Comments: Though 200 shillings (US$3) may be seen as a lot of money, it is not a deterrent for the highly motivated. It is equivalent to two meals in a downscale restaurant.