Speaker Muturi defends CDF, vows to fight court ruling declaring it unconstitutional

NAKURU: The stage is set for a battle to control the billions of devolved funds.

Just minutes after the High Court ruled that the CDF was illegal, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said the House will relook at the law and make sure it conforms to the Constitution.

"It is possible to operate the CDF model alongside the Constitution so that it does not affect what is being done by the counties," said Mr Muturi, who was in Molo, Nakuru County, Friday.

The Speaker, said the fund does not undermine the role of county governments in development.

Muturi defended the fund saying Kenyans have achieved a lot since the CDF Act was enacted.

"CDF has impacted greatly on lives of many Kenyans. And we still make more effective by re-aligning it with the Constitution," he said at Mianzini Primary School in Molo where he was invited by the area MP Jacob Macharia at an event to improve the school facilities, through CDF.

In Nairobi, the chairman of the Council of Governors' Legal Affairs Committee, Peter Munya, was ecstatic about the ruling.

The Meru Governor issued a statement saying the court verdict had "injected a new impetus to devolution, as more funds will now be available for development in County Governments."

Mr Munya termed the ruling as a move in the right direction, as it takes into account the spirit and letter of the Constitution.

"This declaration that the CDF Act is unconstitutional is in line with the Constitution. Article 202 of the Constitution which states that revenue raised nationally shall be shared equitably among the national and county governments," said the governor.

He added, "This means that all monies can only be budgeted for at the two levels of governments. Therefore, a constituency, being an administrative unit in the county, cannot receive a budgetary allocation for development."

Munya said the judgment will set precedence for Parliament to pass constitutional laws that respect the devolved system of government.

The sectors that are likely to benefit from this judgment are health, roads, water and educational infrastructure.

Recently, Council of Governors Chairman Isaac Ruto said counties are setting aside 30 per cent of their revenue towards development, however this is not enough since they have huge recurrent expenditures.

Governors have complained that funds allocated to counties are not adequate to undertake all their assigned functions and petitioned the national government to increase funding.

At the same time, there have been claims of duplication of roles in counties, with projects funded by CDF and those of county governments.