Money and politics for decades have been indivisible entities and history has proved that the two compliment one another and cannot divorce each other.
In Kenya and especially being an electioneering year, the political landscape has witnessed colorful political party launches evidently being the Party of Action {POA} and The National Alliance {TNA} launch where millions were used to commence presidential bids.
Similarly the country has witnessed massive mobilization of political support in almost every corner of the nation through expensive campaign rallies.
From the above scenarios its is obvious that money influences political competition as Kenyan politics are controlled by the sons and daughters of individuals who amassed massive wealth in the early years of independence to the disadvantage of true leaders who do not have massive funds to finance their bids.
However this will be a thing of the past if a draft Campaign Financing Bill 2012 that seeks to set the spending limits for those seeking elective post comes into law.
The Bill that is being drafted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission {IEBC} will give the commission the powers to limit the amount of money a candidate or a political party may spend during an election period.
If the Bill is assented to law, candidates or political parties who exceed more than fifteen percent of the spending limit prescribed before an election, without justification, will be disqualified from contesting for the respective seat, in that election.
Additionally article 14 {7b} of the draft Bill stipulates that; “after an election that a party has exceeded the spending limit prescribed, without justification, the Committee shall disqualify that party from contesting in the next by-election or general election.”
Complicating the matter further for those seeking elective post, the Bill warns that where a candidate or a political party exceeds the spending limit prescribed, without justification, the candidate or the political party shall pay a penalty similar to the amount that was spent exceeding the spending limit to the Campaign Expenditure Reimbursement Fund.
In order to authenticate the source of the huge sums of money being used in political campaigns, the Bill will require candidates to disclose the amount and source of contribution received for their campaigns cautioning that failure to disclose will lead to disqualification of the liable party from the election.
“A candidate or a political party shall not receive any contribution or donation in cash or in kind, from a foreigner, a foreign government or organization or a foreign inter-governmental organization,” adds article 15{2} of the Campaign Financing Bill 2012.
Lastly the Bill seeks to put to a stop a common feature in past elections where politicians have utilized state resources for their own selfish gains by prohibiting the usage of state resources to support or campaign in support of any candidate or political party.
“A candidate or a political party shall not receive any contribution or donation, in cash or in kind, from the Government, a government institution or any other state resource. No person shall use public resources for any campaign for party nomination, election or referendum,” the Bill warns.
Now the biggest prayers and concern of Kenyans is to hope that parliament will pass the Campaign Financing Bill 2012 without mutilating it to suit their own selfish and political gains to ensure free and fair campaigns.
