The National Assembly during a past session.
Members of Parliament are set to face the electorate as Parliament seeks to conduct countrywide public participation to entrench three key funds in the Constitution.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, National Assembly Bill, 2025 seeks to entrench National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), and the proposed Senate Oversight Fund — into the Constitution.
Public participation of the Bill co-sponsored by Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo and his Ainabkoi counterpart Samuel Chepkonga will be done across all counties and constituencies from May 5 to May 7, 2025.
After suffering a string of losses in courts over the legality of the fund, Parliament is now seeking to seal all the loopholes as MPs tighten their grip on the existence of the fund.
A Constituencies Development Fund handbook on how to monitor and account for the funds.
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula said the public participation will be done in strict compliance with Article 256 of the Constitution.
As required under Article 256, the Bill, which seeks to amend the Constitution through parliamentary initiative, must be publicised and open for public discussion and shall be considered by both Houses.
“Parliament shall publicise any Bill to amend this Constitution, and facilitate public discussion about the Bill,” reads Article 256 (2).
“As observed by our courts, amending a country’s constitution more so our constitution should be a sacrosanct public undertaking, and its processes must be undertaken very transparently and in strict compliance with the country’s Supreme Law,” Mr Wetang’ula said in his communication to the House.
Nation has learnt that 337 venues, which include the 290 constituency offices and the 47 offices of the Woman Representatives, will be used as venues.
Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge told the Nation that apart from the receiving written memoranda from the public there will also be a template form where the public will fill in their views over the Bill.
The Bill will be available in both Kiswahili and English with parliamentary officers at hand in the 337 offices to assist those who cannot read for themselves.
“The process will be as transparent as possible and in strict compliance with the law. At the end of the exercise, our officers will do a tally as feedback from the constituencies which we will also make public,” Mr Njoroge said.
Speaker Wetang’ula urged all MPs to take part and provide leadership during the exercise in their respective constituencies.
On April 29, just days before the exercise, Speaker Wetang’ula said there will be a Kamukunji where the lawmakers will be briefed on the modalities and logistical arrangements for conducting the exercise.
The public participation comes at a time ODM leader Raila Odinga has openly told MPs to relinquish control of NG-CDF claiming it’s one of the avenues the lawmakers are using to encroach into functions of county government.
Speaking during the burial of former Kisumu Town MP Ken Nyagudi in Siaya County last week, Mr Odinga warned MPs that the issue of NG-CDF will sink them during the 2027 elections.
“The courts were clear that NG-CDF were unconstitutional, if they (MPs) don’t change it will be an election agenda in the coming elections,” Mr Odinga said.
The lawmakers have however defied Mr Odinga as on Wednesday, they piled pressure on National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi to release the funds for them as poor students who depend on the fund and are expected to report back to schools in two weeks’ time are stranded.
The MPs also see NG-CDF as their only survival avenue as without it most of them are likely to go home in 2027 and they cannot therefore afford to let it as proposed by Mr Odinga.
In most debates of NG-CDF, the lawmakers have vowed that they will not let go of the fund saying it has transformed lives at the constituency level and brought equality in terms of development.
The Saturday Nation has learnt that the entrenchment of the three funds is also facing internal resistance as Women Representatives wanted the realization of the two-thirds gender rule also included among the issues subjected for public participation alongside the three funds.
“Some sections of women MPs felt that this was also the time to deal with the issue of two-thirds gender rule since it was contained in the NADCO report,” said a source in parliament.
The Bill also faces the numbers headache as it requires 233 members in the National Assembly and 45 Senators to vote for it in order to sail through.
While the National Assembly is confident that it will easily get the two-thirds, the fear remains the Senate who might sabotage the process due to the current sibling rivalry between the two Houses.
Over 20 Bills seeking to amend the constitution have always failed in the House due to lack of attaining the two-thirds numbers. This includes the two-thirds gender Bill which has failed a record five times in parliament.
Sources also disclosed that Parliament is aware of plans by a section of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are plotting to go to court to block the public participation on account that the courts had declared the NG-CDF illegal.
Reliable reports also indicate that the process risks being challenged in court on grounds that the Senate has a constitutional role of oversight and hence should not be given a fund to do this function.
In the Bill, the MPs argue that the Senate oversight fund will ensure that the Senate is adequately empowered and resourced to perform its oversight functions as stipulated in Article 96 of the constitution.
For the National Government Affirmative Action Fund, the MPs say it will ensure that groups such as the youth, women, persons with disabilities and elderly groups access funds for promotion of enterprise development at the county and constituency level.
The CDF Act was enacted in 2003 and later amended in 2007 and provided that the government was to set aside at least 2.5 percent of the last audited revenue as approved by National Assembly, to be channelled to the Fund, for use at the constituency level.
The Act was, however, declared unconstitutional by the High Court in 2020 but the judges allowed the MPs to amend the laws within one year, to align it with the constitution hence the exercise.
smundu@ke.nationmedia.com
