Why politician’s single cough and mere gossip is going to cost billions.

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Do you know that Kenyan politician are among the highest paid in the entire world? But the amount they receive is never enough, they always want to top up.

Politics is a game of words. Their words either empty or meaningful have an expensive price tag. The moment they speak even if it is propaganda millions are going in the pocket.

But now it means we are going to even pay more. Nothing comes for free!

A parliamentary team has recommended that Treasury should comply with a court ruling and allocate political parties 0.3 per cent.

The amount is equivalent to Sh5 billion of the current national audited accounts.

The National Assembly Special Funds Committee in its report tabled in the House notes that critical operations of the parties have stalled due to poor funding.

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In 2016, ODM sought court orders compelling the National Treasury to adhere to the 0.3 per cent rule.

Justice Roselyne Aburili directed that the orders issued on October 2017 take effect from the 2018-2019 financial year.

The latest audited and adopted accounts of the national government date back to the 2013/14 financial year and the 0.3 per cent amounted to Sh9 billion.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga’s ODM will share out close to Sh3 billion.

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The two giant parties qualify for the funds as they secured at least five per cent of the total number of votes in the August 2017 general election.

Votes secured by each of the two parties will be computed by adding the total number of votes garnered in the preceding general election in the election for the President, governors, MPs and MCAs.

However, the JP and ODM will have to share the amount with small parties that they went into pre-election coalitions with.

During 2013-2014, then The National Alliance (TNA) received the lion’s share, pocketing Sh 88,834,394, followed by ODM (Sh78,080,095 ) and William Ruto’s URP (Sh28,025,510 ).

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In the following 2014-2015, Uhuru’s TNA took 155,849,814, ODM Sh136,982,623 and URP Sh49,167,562.

In 2015-2016, the Registrar of Political Parties wired to TNA Sh158,979,845, ODM Sh139,647,018 and URP Sh50,213,137.

During the 2016-2017 financial year, Wiper Party joined the fray, receiving Sh 24,140,215 against TNA’s Sh149,396,786, ODM’s Sh131,310,799 and URP’s Sh47,131,758. In the last financial year, only Jubilee and ODM shared the allocation, receiving Sh240,374,863 and Sh112,255,637 respectively.

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Political parties are by law entitled are entitled to at least 0.3 per cent of national revenue every year. They must have at least five per cent of the total vote in the last poll are entitled to public funding. This refers to the tallies for President, Members of Parliament, governors and members of county assemblies.

However, only 95 per cent of the fund is distributed proportionately. Five per cent is retained by the office of the Registrar of Political Parties for administrative costs.

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