President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday signed into law the controversial Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2021, setting the stage for the formation of mega coalitions ahead of the polls.
Senators passed the contentious Bill in the daylong special sitting that ended way past 9pm Wednesday.
Some 28 senators voted to approve the Bill with three lawmakers allied to the Deputy President William Ruto rejecting it.
Here are some of the take-aways from the bill.
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Coalitions
Political parties seeking to form a coalition party should finalise on their agreements and submit them in time. This means, they should deposit agreements to the Registrar of Political Parties four months to the general election.
For this year, the agreements should be deposited by by April 9 because the general election is on August 9.
Member Registration
Political parties should register members and deposit the list with the registrar. This is for purposes of scrutiny of the membership by the registrar ahead of the nominations.
The registrar will scrutinise and certify nomination rules before such primaries are conducted.
Political Party Funds
All political parties under a coalition party will benefit from political party funds.
According to the bill, parties to share a total of 70 per cent of the fund proportionately based on the total number of votes secured by each political party in the preceding election.
Parties to also share 15 percent based on the number of elected candidates from special interest groups.
Additionally, to share 10 percent based on elected representatives from political parties. Finally, five percent to go to administration purposes.
Nominations
Clause 22 provides for direct and indirect nominations.
Direct nomination involves voting by registered party members while indirect involves delegates certified by the Registrar of Political Parties.
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