Understanding the Political Parties Amendment Bill that caused chaos in Parliament

Following the physical altercations witnessed in Parliament on  Wednesday during the special sitting for the Political Parties Amendment Bill 2021, a lot of questions have arisen over why it is so contentious.

There are 27 clauses, all of which we will spare you but here are a few to give an idea of what had our honourable members at loggerheads.

One of the proposals in Clause 2 of the bill is to replace the definition of “political party” to mean an association of citizens with an identifiable ideology or programme that is constituted for the purpose of influencing public policy or nominating candidates to contest elections; and includes a coalition political party.

Interestingly, the roles and functions of a political party have not been provided for in the current Act. So in Clause 3 key roles for political parties are now spelt out from recruiting and enlisting members; to nominating candidates for elections; promoting representation of marginalized groups in Parliament and county assemblies.

Clause 3 also proposes the Registrar of political parties can reserve the name, symbol or slogan of an applicant for 90 days. Tigania West MP John Mutunga succeeded in amending that clause to now require parties to also declare their dominant colour at registration. It was the only win by MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto so far.

Clause 5 of the Bill proposes that an application for provisional registration of a political party be accompanied by a statement on the ideology of the proposed party. Garissa Town MP Aden Duale wanted a portion of the clause deleted but was not successful in Wednesday’s vote.

Clause 6 of the Bill proposed that one of the conditions for full registration of a political party should include the address of the official website of the party.

In addition, the clause provided that the Registrar of Political Parties, would upon the deposit of a coalition agreement for the formation of a coalition political party, issue a certificate of full registration. Still under clause 6, a member of a coalition cannot be a member of another coalition. Attempts by Kandara MP Alice Wahome to have this clause deleted also failed yesterday.

Clause 7 lists two further grounds for refusing an application for the registration of a political party. These are if the name of the political party, the slogan, the abbreviation of the name or the symbol is similar to, or associated with, a group or association that has been legally banned or is against the public interest.

These are minor amendments that required the insertion of the word ‘slogan.’ Alice Wahome wanted to have the clause struck but was outvoted.

Clause 10 of the Bill proposes fair administrative action before the name of a member of political party is removed from the register of members. It essentially defines the grounds upon which a member resigns from a political party. This awaits further deliberation.

A tweak in the distribution of the Political Parties Fund is what Clause 15 calls for. A slight change is being proposed to have 70 per cent of the funds allocated to parties based on their total number of votes garnered in a preceding general election, 15 per cent be based on political party’s elected special interest groups. The bill proposes to have 10 per cent of the fund go to political parties based on the number of elected representatives.

As it stands now 95 per cent of the fund is allocated to parties based on total number of votes garnered in a general election. This has continuously disadvantaged political parties that shelve their presidential ambitions within coalitions.

Next week should speaker Justin Muturi allow Amos Kimunya's request, the bill goes for another round of voting as MPs deliberate on the other 23 clauses that are unresolved.