OPINION: Innovative legislation can help tame Kenyan parliamentary misbehaviour

On watching the joint parliamentary group meeting between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) it is clear that, beyond tough talk, there is a desperate need for a very distinct legislation on the role of money in Kenyan politics.

President William Ruto’s revelations of who pocketed what and Raila Odinga’s muddled equivalence of bribery to lobbying, or vice versa, opens the can of campaign or political financing worms that have deeply seeped into the nature of Kenyan politics.

Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i once hinted at the pervasive influx of money launderers and drug dealers in legislative competition or affairs. In the past, the Late Professor George Saitoti also made similar claims, yet these revelations simply join a long historical line of exposés that never get a resolute conclusion.

Splitting hairs on what is bribery and what is lobbying by legislators is a diversionary tactic to confuse the public further, from not understanding how the pervasiveness of parliamentary corruption is a monstrosity of its own making. 

Kenyan politics simply has an all-round bad track record on how it associates with money exemplified by the hollowing out of the public finance management systems in so many incomprehensible ways thereby saddling the country with unconscionable debt.

The organization of political activities, legislative influence, undue regulatory capture and non-disclosure of interests has been convoluted by money during and after campaigns thereby resulting in the most despicable form of legislative representation ever witnessed in Kenya.

Laws like the proposal to retain the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) in its current form risk tearing up the hard-fought Constitution of Kenya 2010 (COK 2010) simply because the avarice of Members of Parliament (MP) has no bounds in inserting themselves into implementation of projects for the purpose of skimming off the top at the expense of citizens.

Consequently, a law interpreting the deliberate grey zones and alignes with global best practices in consideration of the need for transparency plus accountability is needed to help tame the current Kenyan parliamentary misbehaviour.

This may require the clear registration of “political action committees” or any form of lobbying entity that is not currently covered in existing laws. 

Additionally, existing entities such as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) plus the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) can be given more powers to whip legislators in line outside of the confines of parliament.

Existing legislation can be strengthened to formalize declarations and enhance disclosures more broadly to capture campaign or other politically related finances. Such a law would also help prevent third-party coordination, namely, conspiring against the interests of the Kenyan people in line with the constitution, based on unregulated money.

This would prevent the sharing of non-public strategic information; collusion of vendors; material involvement in content, timing, audience, or placement; or fundraising arrangements that condition public spending among other scenarios. 

Further, it will publicise declaration of expenditures by entities associated with politically exposed persons, with possible clarity on the code of conduct in line with constitutional stipulations on integrity. This will boost public scrutiny, institutional enforcement, and clarify the risk of sanctions that should prove costly to political misbehaviour leading to corruption.

Ultimately, the Principals in all political parties or formations are guilty by association because they are the leaders of the outfits that provide the country with the representational leadership to govern. They should therefore not drain the country with lamentations but crack the whip through disciplinary mechanisms even as the country contemplates better law.

Such law should therefore be passed at least 12 months before the next elections to satisfy judicial guidance on timely Kenyan campaign-finance rules.

The author is the Regional Coordinator of the East African Tax and Governance Network (EATGN) and Chief Executive of the International Relations Society of Kenya (IRSK). Follow @lennwanyama.