MPs scrutinise Bill regulating political party funding

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Parliament's legal and parliamentary affairs committee has started scrutinising the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

The development follows the Bill's introduction by Napak District Woman MP Faith Nakut during a plenary sitting chaired by Speaker Anita Among on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.

Nakut had a day earlier moved a motion under Rules 127 and 128 of the Rules of Procedure seeking leave to introduce the Private Member’s Bill, which seeks to amend the Political Parties and Organisations Act, Cap. 178.

The proposed legislation aims to formalise two organs within the National Consultative Forum: the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) and a Forum for Non-Represented Political Parties and Organisations. It also seeks to define IPOD’s functions and streamline the criteria for public funding of political parties and organisations.

Currently, the Act provides government funding to political parties represented in Parliament under Section 14. However, Nakut argued that the law does not require these parties to uphold democratic values such as tolerance, dialogue and peaceful co-existence as conditions for accessing public resources.

“To strengthen the National Consultative Forum, we must establish organs that reflect the interests of both represented and non-represented political parties,” she stated.

“Promoting transparency, accountability, and equitable access to public funding requires that parties adhere to democratic principles before receiving public resources,” she said.

According to the Bill's objective, the amendment would restrict government funding and access to other public resources to only those political parties and organisations that are members of the National Consultative Forum.

The Bill prescribes the functions of IPOD as:

▪️ Promoting inter-party dialogue to strengthen democratic governance,

▪️ Facilitating communication among political parties represented in Parliament,

▪️ Advising government on policy matters and fostering a democratic environment, and;

▪️ Providing a neutral platform for engagement among parties of differing ideologies.

The Bill proposes that only political parties and organisations that choose to join IPOD be eligible for government funding and public resources.

Speaker Among referred the Bill to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for further scrutiny.