National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge has warned that it will be catastrophic to let the National Government- Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) “die”, coming after the High Court declared it unconstitutional.
Mr Njoroge, in an interview, said that the needy pupils sponsored by bursaries from NG-CDF will bear the brunt considering that education bursary is eligible for the kitty’s funding provided that it does not exceed 40 percent of the annual allocation to a constituency.
“It will be wrong to let NG-CDF die because the learners who get support from the fund will be orphaned with the burden of sponsoring their education shifting to all of us,” said Mr Njoroge.
A bench of three judges sitting at the High Court in September last year declared the NG-CDF Act unconstitutional for violating the principle of separation of powers and over the failure of MPs to consult the Senate when the law was enacted.
Although Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Mugure Thande and Roselyn Aburili agreed that the law was unconstitutional, the judges could not agree as to when the allocation and programmes funded through the NGCDF should cease.
Justices Kimondo and Aburili were of the view that the allocation should cease by June 30, 2026, while Justice Thande ruled that it should end by June next year because allowing it to continue with the allocation beyond next year would be an illegality.
Mr Njoroge noted that Parliament is in the process of saving the fund through an amendment that will entrench it into the constitution.
Other than entrenching the NG-CDF, the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2025, still in its draft stages, also seeks to entrench the Senate Oversight Fund and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
NG-CDF is allocated to each of the 290 constituencies to finance education bursaries as well as education and security-related infrastructure projects.
In the 12th parliament, MPs amended the NG-CDF Act to increase allocation to the NG-CDF kitty from 2.5 percent of the most recent audited national government revenue as approved by the National Assembly, to 5 percent.
In the current financial year- 2024/25, at least Sh50 billion was allocated to finance the NG-CDF activities across the country.
The allocation of the fund as stated in section 34 of the NG-CDF Act is such that three-quarters of the amount is divided equally among the 290 constituencies, a quarter of the fund is divided among all the constituencies based on the number of wards.
The NG-CDF that is responsible for the running of the fund is allocated not more than five percent of the total allocation to the kitty.
“NG-CDF is our Mpesa and we need to have it in place to help our people, especially the learners and other government projects. Its death will mean the fund remaining with the national government in Nairobi, a development that will make it difficult for a poor learner to access it,” said Mr Njoroge.
One of the key mandates of the NG-CDF Board is to ensure timely and efficient disbursement of funds to all the constituencies.
By 2021/22, since NG-CDF was introduced at least 18 years ago, the NG-CDF Board has disbursed about Sh417.27 billion to constituencies across the country for the development projects and programmes.
The allocation has been increasing consistently from Sh1.3 billion in the 2003/04 financial year to Sh44.29 billion in the 2022/23 financial year.
Documents before parliament show that in the last five years at least Sh65 billion has been allocated to bursaries benefiting at least 6.5 million needy school going children to ensure that they continue with their education.
During the same period, the documents show, NG-CDF has built over 24,000 classrooms, constructed at least 1,200 dormitories for the over 138,732 students in boarding schools.
In 2022 Matungulu MP Stephen Mule came up with a proposal to amend the 2010 constitution to entrench NG- CDF, Senate Oversight Fund and NGAAF but it did not see the light of the day.
The documents also indicate that the fund has constructed 2,288 administration blocks in primary and secondary schools in the country, 131 libraries, 19, 400 toilets for the pupils in schools, purchased 961 buses for schools, built 833 dining halls in schools and did 876 staff houses within various schools across the country.
The kitty has seen the construction of 190 lecture halls and 67 administration blocks at the Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTCs) across the country, 10 lecture halls and 71 administration blocks in Teacher Training Institutions in the country in the last five years.
In the security sector, the fund has helped realize the construction of 193,210 national government administration offices across the country, 1,091 police stations and 350 police houses as well as financing the education of eight pilots now flying commercial passenger carrier aircrafts including the KQ owned.
The process to establish CDF started in 1999 through a private motion by then Ol Kalou MP Muriuki Karue who wanted the government to allocate at least five percent of the government revenue towards local development at the constituencies.
The motion was passed in October 2000 but the amount was reduced from five percent 2.5 percent. The government failed to take up the motion despite being passed by parliament.
However, in 2001, Mr Karue made a proposal through a Bill to demand that the government yield to the wishes of parliament.
His attempts never yielded a match and two years later, his second attempt was successful when the CDF Bill was passed on December 31, 2003.
This proceeded to the creation of CDF Act, 2003, through which a minimum of 2.5 percent of the ordinary government revenue is set aside for grassroots community development.
