Raila’s ODM Party Loses Sh4.1 Billion Case with Government

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has been dealt a blow in its bid to force the government pay it Sh4.1 billion Political Parties Fund owed to the party.

The political party, led by Raila Odinga, moved to court to seek orders compelling the state to pay the arrears it claimed accrued between 2013 to 2016.

ODM argued that the government only disbursed Sh100 million as opposed to the amount stipulated in the political parties funding law.

However, while dismissing the case, High Court judge Roslyne Aburili said she could not compel the taxpayer to settle the arrears because ODM never demanded the money.

The judge further said that it could not force the government to settle the arrears, since the fund set aside for political parties from the national treasury is not a debt.

“The party waited for four financial years to demand the money, yet it knew that Parliament had not been allocating the correct figures,” the judge said.

“It will not be in the interests of justice or public policy for the amount to be released to the party.”

The Constitution and election laws mandates Parliament to set aside a fund of not less than 0.3 per cent of the national cake to the Political Parties Fund every year.

The law states that 95 per cent of the fund be shared on the basis of total number of votes garnered by each political party in the preceding General Elections, while the remaining five per cent, is preserved for administrative costs.

The law further says that only parties that managed at least five per cent of the total vote cast in an election are entitled to public funding.