Why stolen billions threaten free polls

Why stolen billions threaten free polls

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Updated 4 hrs 3 mins ago

By Vitalis Kimutai

With just months to the General Election, the absence of laws to control spending by candidates during political campaigns threatens to make nonsense of the vote.

For politicians elections have, literally, become a matter of life and death and the candidates will try to win by hook or crook.

To make it worse, with six substantive positions to fight for in the ballot, unlike in other elections where there were just three, the stakes are much higher.

Kenyans will be voting for President, Governor, Senator, Member of Parliament, and women and county representatives.

The report by the Coalition for Accountable Political Financing (CAPF) spares no party and shows why efforts to fight corruption in Government are doomed to failure. It also lifts the lid on how unlimited spending without proper accountability unfairly tilts the outcome of the vote.

Because of the huge financial investment by candidates in elections, most inevitably use corrupt means to recoup the cash they spent on campaigns once they are elected. These include getting bribes from those bidding for State contracts.

MPs, Presidential candidates and civic leaders are bound by a common interest to ensure the fight against corruption is only paid lip service.

Elite surveys with 98 elected MPs revealed that in the 2007 elections, the highest spenders used Sh7 million to bribe voters. Those on the lower bribery scale parted with Sh2 million.

It further revealed that 20 per cent of the MPs spent Sh4 million, 18 per cent injected Sh3 million as they engaged in election
malpractices.
“At least 78 per cent of voters were paid money during the party nominations while reports from 70 constituencies shows the level of election malpractices was higher than that reported in the media,” the report indicates.

For instance, eight sitting MPs spent between Sh100 and Sh200 per voter in their backyards in recorded incidences of voter bribery in the last 30 days prior to the poll.

Parliamentary candidates pumped in upwards of Sh8 million into their campaigns, while monitored youths and women could only afford a maximum of Sh2 million.

Because most of the cash raised cannot be monitored, what is actually spent by candidates and their parties probably runs into billions of shillings in total.

Reacting to the report, Mr James Mwamu, the Vice President East Africa Law Society said there
was high likelihood of State funds being siphoned for the campaigns.

Mr Mwalimu Mati, of the Mars Group said the regulations on funding of political parties and limiting contributions from individuals and foreign sources were only good on paper but not enforceable.

He said that just like in previous elections, campaign money would exert pressure on the shilling because of the high circulation of funds.

In 2007, President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) was the biggest beneficiary of the skewed allocation of airtime on national broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) during campaigns in 2007, and also benefited the most from misuse of State resources, including vehicles, aircraft and security.

However, even the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and other parties were guilty of using cash to influence the Presidential, Parliamentary and civic votes in the ill-fated elections.

The report says candidates for presidential, Parliamentary and civic seats spent mind-boggling sums of cash to oil their campaign machinery and ensure victory in the run-up to the vote.

In 2007 exercise, candidates who are now in the Grand Coalition Government engaged in open bribery and vote buying to beat the competition.

The report indicates that parties and candidates in campaigns used Sh5.6 billion during the run-up to the 2007 election.
However, only Sh4.8 billion was raised through monitored fundraising events and donations from local and foreign donors.

“Besides party nomination fees and fundraising dinners, parties and candidates raised money from sources abroad, through the sale of personal assets, insurance companies, taking loans and taking part in pyramid schemes,” reads the report.

The source of a huge chunk of the money pumped into campaigns remains unknown according to the report.
Donors, some with dubious and corrupt backgrounds, contributed large sums of money to fund the various parties and candidates, while having an eye on State tenders and to protect the sources of their wealth.

Currently, Part V Section 31 (5) of the Political Parties Act outlaws foreign contributions to parties, but the law is silent on candidates who are free to receive money from any source.

Given the high stakes, most candidates have to raise their own cash for campaigns as parties have limited access to cash other than membership fees, voluntary contributions, donations and investments.

The Act also requires parties to publish their sources of funding, with their accounts audited by the Auditor-General and forwarded to Parliament and the Registrar of Political Parties.

“Corruption related to campaign finances poses a danger to democratic development with covert party funding streams, influence peddling and leveraging State resources for party campaigns compromising the faith and support of ordinary citizens in the political processes,” states the report.

The study showed that most political parties and candidates conducted fundraising dinners across the country to finance their campaigns, with President Kibaki’s PNU party leading with Sh646 million in 114 events.

The party collected Sh260 million in 40 fundraising dinners in Nairobi, Sh270 million in in?Central, Sh42 million in Rift Valley and Sh6 million in Nyanza.

Raila’s ODM, on the other hand, collected Sh388 million in 100 monitored dinners across the country.

Rift Valley was the largest campaign cash cow for ODM netting Sh136 million in 34 monitored dinners. The party raised a further Sh84 million in Nairobi, Sh85 million in Nyanza, Sh45 million in Coastal region, Sh36 million in Western and Sh2 million in Eastern through the same means.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s ODM Kenya raised Sh65 million through similar events in the county.

From a democratic perspective, heavy spending in campaigns limits democratic space, and attracts profiteers rather than personalities keen on public service to run for political office.

“Heavy spending leads to inflation felt after every General Election in Kenya and pushes banks into diverting credit towards political rather than productive activities,” the report indicates.

Political parties are said to have collected Sh813 million in nomination fees and party levies in the last poll, that was the most significant source of income with ODM leading the
pack with Sh300 million.

All major political parties ODM, Narc, ODM-Kenya, and Shirikisho charged Parliamentary candidates Sh100,000 as nomination fees.

Kaddu charged Sh85,000 and Kanu and Kenda Sh50,000 with PNU charging Sh30,000.

Civic candidates were charged between Sh350 to Sh10,500 as nomination fees while some charged the candidates between Sh1,000 to Sh3,500.

At least 87 per cent of the 110 Parliamentary candidates engaged in voter bribery despite the fact that the law prohibits such acts.

“In 71 constituencies, data shows that there were 20,569 recorded incidences of voter bribery and vote buying in pre-party nomination campaigns and 54,568 incidences in post-party nomination campaigns,” the report indicates.

Central and Nyanza led in vote buying and bribery with the former registering 11,604 cases and the latter 11,304 cases out of the total 75,135 reported incidences.

Manipulating elections has been a factor in General Election since independence in the country, with moneyed politicians entering the fray.