The Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu when she appeared before the Senate County Public Investment Committee at Bunge Towers in Nairobi on September 4, 2024.
Projects valued at Sh495.6 million and funded by the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) across 29 constituencies have been reported stalled and abandoned, underscoring systemic inefficiencies in implementation of publicly-funded development.
This came during a period when annual national allocations to the kitty jumped 68.1 per cent to Sh74.8 billion, up from Sh44.5 billion in a corresponding prior period.
The fund is a government initiative established to support development at the grassroots level by allocating cash directly to each parliamentary constituency.
Managed through committees at the constituency level, the kitty is used for projects such as building schools, security installations, and funding education through the issuance of bursaries to students from needy families.
“Stalled projects are an indication that the public has been denied benefits that would have accrued from the completed projects and that value for money invested in the projects has not been realised,” Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said in a new audit report covering the year ended June 2024.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu.
The report further shows that completion of projects worth Sh6.9 billion was delayed in 157 constituencies, indicating ineffectiveness in the management of public resources.
Of those completed, the auditor flagged Sh101.1 million worth of projects in 18 constituencies that remained unutilised, which she said points to wastage of public finances and lack of value for money.
Also Read: MP wants Sh10bn more for CDF kitty
A physical verification and review of project records by Gathungu’s office showed that development initiatives valued at Sh696.99 million in 65 constituencies had unsatisfactory implementation issues, including poor workmanship and structural defects, which indicated contract mismanagement and procurement irregularities.
Other issues flagged included payments for incomplete works or no works at all, failure to brand projects, raising the risk of duplication in accounting, as well as lack of proper handover and documentation, which meant that many completed projects had completion and handover certificates.
Gathungu also raised concern over unutilised funds totaling Sh26.7 billion across all the 290 constituencies as of June 30, 2024, noting that this has been a recurring situation over the years, which has previously been blamed on delayed disbursement of funds from the NGCDF Board.
