POLITICAL PARTIES ACT: NUMBER OF PARTIES SLASHED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000090 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM KE SUBJECT: POLITICAL PARTIES ACT: NUMBER OF PARTIES SLASHED BY 72 PERCENT REF: A. 08 NAIROBI 2851 ¶B. 08 NAIROBI 2696 Classified By: Political Counselor Mitch Benedict for reasons 1.4 (B an d D) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The Political Parties Registrar, Lucy N'dungu, told poloff on January 8 that her office had issued certificates of registration to 38 Kenyan political parties which had complied with the requirements of Political Parties Act of 2007 (Reftel B). The 38 parties are now entitled to participate fully in Kenyan politics and are eligible for government financing from a yet-to-be establish fund. N'dungu told POLOFF that there are still ten applications pending, so the final number of parties could be as high as 48, a substantial reduction from the 169 parties registered under the Societies Act which previously regulated political party formation. N'dungu told POLOFF that her office faces a number of financial and bureaucratic obstacles flowing from the GOK's decision to disband the Electoral Commission of Kenya, which had been envisioned as the home of her office. She said, however, that efforts are underway to resolve these issues. End Summary. DRASTICALLY FEWER POLITICAL PARTIES -------------- ¶2. (C) The Political Parties Registrar (the Registrar),Lucy N'dungu, met with POLOFF on January 8. N'dungu, who has been the Registrar since the position was created in October 2008, stated that her office had issued certificates of registration to 38 political parties which had complied with the requirements of the Political Parties Act (the Act) before the December 31, 2008 deadline (Reftel B). These parties are now entitled to participate fully in Kenyan politics. They will also be eligible for government financial support from the Political Parties Fund, established by the Act, but which has not yet received budget support. N'dungu noted that the applications of ten additional parties are pending verification that they comply with the Act. N'dungu stated that even if all ten pending applications are approved, the number of political parties will have been cut from 169 parties to no more than 48, a reduction of 72 percent. ¶3. (C) N'dungu told POLOFF that the vast majority of applications were submitted after December 25 and processing and verifying the information contained in such a a large number of applications had strained her office's 14 staff members. N'dungu admitted that her office had not yet compiled a final list of all parties which had been approved, but promised to deliver the list of approved parties to post when it was available. REGISTRAR FACING BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLES -------------- ¶4. (C) N'dungu explained that the Registrar's office faces a number of obstacles arising from the government's recent decision to disband the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) (Reftel A). The Political Parties Act envisioned the Registrar as being part of the Electoral Commission of Kenya for organizational and budgetary purposes. These obstacles include the loss of its office space - ECK offices were padlocked the day before POLOFF met with N'dungu, forcing her to find temporary alternate space in the same building - and brings into question how the Ministry of Finance will fund the activities of the Registrar, including its request for the establishment of the Political Parties Fund authorized under the Political Parties Act. The Registrar's office was to be treated as a sub-unit of the ECK for budgetary purposes and N'dungu was not certain that she and her staff would be paid their salaries. However, N'dungu has received unofficial assurances from the Ministry of Finance that it would find a way to fund the Registrar's office and its request to establish the Political Parties Fund. COMMENT: -------------- ¶5. As expected, implementation of the Political Parties Act has drastically reduced the number of political parties. Still the fact that as many as 48 parties may ultimately be NAIROBI 00000090 002 OF 002 granted certificates is slightly larger than anticipated, and we expect that a number of these parties registered will not be sustainable in the long-run. The Political Parties Act empowers the Registrar to de-register parties that violate the Act, but it is not yet clear whether this will happen in practice. If a number of so-called briefcase parties continue to exist, the overall reduction in parties will actually benefit them because they will then be able to command increased prices for nominations. The parties that failed to comply with the requirements of the Political Parties Act are now officially defunct, though they may submit new requests for certification if they comply with the Act's requirements. However, the barriers to financial and administrative barriers to entry remain quite high and the act may hinder the registration of new parties. We will continue to follow the progress of the Registrar's office in resolving the financial and administrative obstacles the disbandment of the ECK has created. End Comment. RANNEBERGER