Members of Parliament have shot down a bill intended to cap the spending limit of political parties and presidential candidates on campaigns ahead of the 2022 general elections.

During the voting that took place on Tuesday, September 28, MPs voted against the draft Election Campaign Financing Regulations bill which set the presidential campaign spending at Ksh4.4 billion and political party budgets at Ksh17.7 billion shillings.

According to MPs, IEBC unjustifiably delayed publication of the regulations, which should have been in place at least a year before the August 9, 2022, general elections.

Last week, the Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) sought to amend the Election Campaign Financing Regulations in a move aimed at ensuring funds spent by politicians during campaigns is kept secret.

Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni introduced the requirement to establish a candidate’s expenditure scrapped.

The committee opposed the requirement by the electoral commission that the identity of donors of political parties and candidates should be revealed.

“The disclosure of funds shall be confidential and details of such funds shall not be divulged except where such information is the subject of a complaint or an investigation or is the subject of proceedings in a court of law,” the Bill read in part.

“The objective of the Bill is to amend the Act, 2013 to align its provisions with the Elections Act, 2011 and further propose amendments that will enable its implementation as the current provisions do not take cognizant of current socio-economic and political structures which have hindered the full implementation of the law,” the bill read in part.