Election Campaign Financing Act

The Act may be cited as the Election Campaign Financing Act.

The Act's operation is suspended and it will come into force immediately after the general elections held in 2017.

Defines 'all expenses incurred by a political party or a candidate during the nomination process.'

Section 3 lists the functions of the Commission, including keeping a register of authorised persons; supervising actors regarding campaign expenses; setting and enforcing spending and contribution limits; monitoring and regulating campaign expenses; providing reporting and media regulation frameworks; advising candidates/parties/committees; and performing other necessary functions. It also permits the Commission to act in consultation with the Registrar when performing these functions.

Section 4 gives the Commission powers to investigate matters related to its functions, to obtain warrants and enter premises, to request specified expense information (and to cite the legal basis when doing so), to receive such information within a reasonable time from any person or organisation, and to take other necessary actions.

Political parties, independent candidates, and referendum committees must submit specified expenditure reports (preliminary and final) within set timeframes and those final reports must include records of transactions and income and expenditure statements.

In the case of a general election, at least twelve months before the election;

Specifies who are authorised persons (candidates, agents, party and referendum campaign financing committees) and requires committees to be constituted as nominated with three signatories; authorised persons must open campaign financing accounts and notify the Commission of changes as soon as reasonable.

Members of a party expenditure committee must not include members of a party candidate expenditure committee; and a political party must notify the Commission promptly of any changes in membership of its party expenditure committee.

Independent candidates must form a three-member expenditure committee which must open and manage a campaign account, keep accounts available for inspection, receive reports, and submit a final campaign expenditure report to the Commission.

Requires a national committee to notify the Commission, as soon as is reasonable, of any changes in membership of the referendum expenditure committee; also sets composition constraints and lists duties related to accounts, reporting and monitoring.

Campaign contributions may be received from any person, political party, or any other lawful source.

Contributions from a single source must not exceed 20% of the total contributions received by a candidate, political party or referendum committee, except for contributions from a candidate to their own campaign account or from a party/committee to its own campaign account; the Commission must prescribe the disclosure threshold.

Candidates, political parties and referendum committees that receive anonymous or illegal-source contributions must report the receipt and submit the contribution to the Commission within fourteen days.

Candidates, political parties and referendum committees must not receive contributions from the State or other public resources; if they receive campaign support they must report and submit it to the Commission within forty‑eight hours; failure to report leads to disqualification and contravention of the prohibition is an offence.

Organisations or persons who contribute to candidates, parties or referendum committees must channel contributions through specified expenditure accounts, seek consent to campaign and register as required, keep spending within Act limits, and file a final report within one month after the election.

Candidates, political parties and referendum committees must issue receipts for contributions over twenty thousand shillings, keep records for harambee contributions, disclose amounts and sources for campaign contributions, keep disclosures confidential except for complaints/investigations/court proceedings, and failure to disclose is an offence.

Within three months after the date of an election or referendum, notify the Commission of any surplus campaign funds held in the expenditure committee.

The Commission must prescribe spending limits (including total amounts and media coverage limits) for candidates, political parties and referendum committees at least twelve months before an election and may vary those limits; contributions to campaign accounts must not exceed those limits; parties or candidates who exceed limits due to unforeseeable circumstances must report to the Commission within a time the Commission prescribes; failing to report an excess is an offence.

Mentions authorised expenditures and a venue where campaign activities "may be undertaken".

The Commission must set up mechanisms to monitor campaign media coverage; breaching the limits in this section by a candidate, political party, referendum committee or media enterprise is an offence.

Anyone may lodge a complaint with the Commission; the Commission may investigate and may request attendance and information. The section lists possible orders and sanctions including rectification of records, formal warnings, fines (as specified under regulations), prohibitions on campaigning or media coverage, and disqualification; disqualification discovered after an election bars the candidate or party from contesting the subsequent by-election or general election; some orders must be registered in courts depending on the election type.

Makes it an offence to obstruct the Commission or any representative of the Commission from exercising powers under this Act.

It lists offences by a candidate, a political party or a referendum committee (including breaching campaign expenditure rules; knowingly giving false information; failing to submit party expenditure reports to the Commission; exceeding prescribed spending limits without reasonable explanation) and states that members of a party or committee governing body are liable and that those convicted shall be disqualified from contesting the election or referendum.

If a person is convicted of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is specified, they are liable to a fine of up to two million shillings or imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

The Commission must set procedures for registering and dissolving expenditure committees; expenditure committees are to be dissolved when they submit the final expenditure reports referred to in section 10.

The Commission must, on request, make available for inspection information submitted by a candidate, a political party or a referendum committee under this Act.

The Auditor-General may audit campaign expense accounts when requested by the Commission.

A person who objects to campaign finance matters may file a claim to the Commission in the prescribed form, manner and time.

The Commission may make regulations to perform its functions and must lay those regulations before the National Assembly for approval before publication in the Gazette.