Politicians who will be vying for various seats in the 2022 General Election are staring at tough campaign financing law that sets limits for campaign money political parties and candidates can spend.
Unlike currently where there are no limits on the amount of money a party or an aspirant can raise and use for the campaign, the Election Campaign Financing Regulations 2020 wants election expenses to be limited for every aspirant depending on the seat they are seeking.
Apart from revealing the source of their campaign funds, the campaign funding proposed law further wants political parties and aspirants to reveal their source of income for the funds as well as open bank accounts with a Kenyan financial institution specifically for campaign cash which shall be audited if the money exceeds KSh5 million.
“A political party, candidate, or any of the authorized persons shall open a bank account in a Kenyan financial institution for the sole purpose of the political parties elections campaigns or the candidate’s electoral campaign or referendum campaign,” it says.
Tabled at the National Assembly by Majority Whip Emmanuel Wangwe on Thursday, August 5, the proposed regulation, if passed, shall require all candidates to give information on their sponsors.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said if enacted, the law will operationalise the Election Campaign Financing Act, 2013, which was suspended in the 2017 General Election.
“The instrument provides for regulations of campaign expenditures by setting out permissible sources of campaign financing, prohibited sources of campaign financing,
“regulation of loans advances for purposes of campaign financing, regulations of harambees and the powers of the authorised persons and the commission in relation to the contribution,” the commission said.
