Kenya currency illustrated

Opaque political party financing remains one of Africa's weakest governance areas, raising concerns about the influence of wealthy and undisclosed financiers on democratic competition, a new report has found.

The Integrity Narratives 2026 report by the African Institute for Development Policy finds that the continent's average score for political finance has never exceeded 10 out of 100, highlighting persistent weaknesses in transparency and oversight of money flowing into political parties.

The report warns that “undisclosed party funding leaves room for opaque influence and patronage”, identifying political finance as a critical accountability gap across the continent.

This is particularly significant for Kenya, where political parties are preparing for the 2027 General Election amid questions about the transparency of their funding, management of public resources and accountability to members and voters.

The report's assessment of 55 African Union member states found that the continent's average election performance score fell to 26.8 in 2025, below the 29 recorded in 2014.

Its research, covering September 2023 to June 2025, examined how governance institutions operate in practice rather than simply assessing the laws on paper.

“Transparency about sources of funding for political parties, on the other hand, have been the worst-performing sets of indicators, and it appears there is a profound dearth of institutional capacity and oversight mechanisms to catalyse improvement,” the report says.

The Political Parties Act, 2011, establishes a framework for financing political parties through public funding, membership subscriptions, donations and other lawful sources.

The law also provides for the Political Parties Fund, administered by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, to support the operations and development of qualifying political parties.

The fund is supposed to receive an allocation equivalent to at least 0.3 per cent of national government revenue, with money distributed among eligible parties according to their electoral performance and representation.

However, the allocation has consistently fallen below the statutory requirement.

The Auditor General's report on political parties for the 2023-24 financial year found that the fund received Sh808.3 million, equivalent to just 0.035 per cent of national government revenue, against the 0.3 per cent stipulated in law.

The allocation had declined from Sh2.47 billion in 2021-22 to Sh884.25 million in 2022-23, reflecting an increasingly constrained public financing arrangement.

The underfunding, according to the Auditor General, may have adversely affected parties' planned activities, raising questions about their capacity to maintain grassroots structures, promote political participation and fulfil their statutory obligations.

The Auditor General's findings further showed weaknesses in the management and accountability of political party resources.

Jubilee, Pamoja Alliance and Kenya African Democratic Union-Asili — with combined funding of Sh80.6 million — were not audited for the 2023-24 financial year because of late submission or failure to submit their financial statements.

Jubilee accounted for Sh74.05 million of the unaudited amount, with the Auditor General citing a dispute over ownership and authorised signatories that delayed submission of its accounts.

Among the 45 parties whose accounts were audited, 23 received qualified audit opinions, three received adverse opinions and one received a disclaimer of opinion. Only 18 received unqualified opinions.

The audit also identified incomplete financial disclosures among seven parties, including failure to disclose income from member contributions.

Section 29 of the Political Parties Act requires parties to publish their sources of funding, including money received from the Political Parties Fund, members and supporters, as well as the amounts and sources of donations.

The law requires the disclosures to be published within 90 days of the end of each financial year, both in a newspaper with nationwide circulation and on the party's official website.

Section 31 further requires parties to maintain proper financial records and submit their accounts to the Auditor General for annual audits.

Afidep’s key concern is that inadequate disclosure makes it difficult to establish the interests behind political financing.

Wealthy individuals and business interests can provide parties with resources to maintain political organisations, influence public debate and sustain their political activities.

Where the sources and scale of such contributions are not adequately disclosed, citizens may struggle to establish whether political parties remain accountable to their members or become dependent on a small group of influential financiers.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Anti-Corruption and Integrity Outlook 2026 similarly warns that inadequate safeguards around political financing can expose policymaking to undue influence and policy capture.