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Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga.
The High Court in Nairobi on Tuesday, May 21, dismissed the government’s decision to reduce budget allocation to political parties by Ksh800 million.
In a ruling presided by Justice Chacha Mwita, the court upheld the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party’s demand for the government to reinstate the initial allocation of Ksh1.2 billion.
The court noted that it was contrary to the law for the government to cut Ksh800 million from the Political Parties Fund in its supplementary budget in 2023.
Chacha, in his ruling, noted that it was the National Assembly’s lawful role to allocate to political parties money that is not less than 0.3 per cent of revenue collected by the government.
According to the court, the amount allocated to political parties through the Appropriations Act cannot be reduced through the Supplementary Appropriation Act.
“A declaration is hereby issued that the reduction of the money allocated to the Political Parties fund is contrary to articles 1(1), 2, 3, 10, and 38 of the Constitution as read in section 24(1)(a) of the Political Parties Act,” read part of the ruling.
“An order of Certiorari is hereby issued quashing and or nullifying vote No. R1311 in the Second Schedule to the Supplementary Appropriation Act, (No.3) of 2023 published in the Kenya Gazette on 24th November 2023,” the court further ruled.
While commenting on the court’s ruling, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna termed the move as a big win for political parties as institutions of democracy.
Last year, ODM filed a petition at the High Court accusing the government of reducing political parties’ budget by Ksh800 million.
Through its lawyer, Jackton Owele, ODM argued that the government violated its legitimate expectations of law as parties had been denied Ksh1.2 billion in funds needed to effectively run its mandate.
“We note with concern that with the reduction of the Fund, political parties will be immensely deprived of the resources to fund programs and activities contained in their work plans for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters,” ODM noted.
“The foregoing is in utter violation of political parties’ legitimate expectations and limitation of their rights under the Political Parties Act and the Constitution of Kenya.”
