Duale says It will take parliament three months to amend CDF Act

Nakuru; Kenya: Parliament will amend the unconstitutional Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act in three months, Majority Leader of the national assembly Aden Daule has said.

Speaking in Bahati constituency, Nakuru County over the weekend, Duale said the government will also increase the allocation to the fund from the current Sh33billion to Sh38billion in the 2015-2016 Financial Year.

"We are going to expedite the process of amending the Act to align it to the 2010 constitution in the shortest time possible. We will not wait for the 12 months period given by the High Court," said the Garissa town MP who was accompanied by six Jubilee legislators.

The lawmakers accused governors and senators of being behind a scheme to take away the kitty from them and vowed to fight for it to remain under their control.

Citing some of the achievements of the fund since the law was enacted, Duale blamed the senate and governors for being behind a campaign to have the Act declared unconstitutional.

"CDF has been important in developing various parts of the country. It is one of the most devolved funds in the country and we cannot wait for the 12 months to amend the law," said Duale adding that they will engage the office of the Attorney General and other relevant institutions in effecting the required changes to the Act.

MPs David Gikaria, Moses Lessonet, Kimani Ngunjiri, Dennis Kariuki and Jacob Macharia said CDF cannot be put in the hands of senators and governors.

"Kenyans have seen what has happened to billions of shillings allocated to counties for development in the past one year of devolution. We will not allow governors to handle CDF," remarked Gikaria.

Lessonet who chairs the parliamentary committee on CDF, said the fund was there to stay and revealed the committee had requested for Sh5billion more for the kitty.

"We will respect the court decision and align the Act to the constitution and at the same time ask the president to allocate Sh5 billion more to the kitty," he said.

Ngunjiri took issue to media reports suggesting that the fund had completely been scrapped causing unnecessary anxiety among Kenyans.

" Media has not been objective in its report on CDF. The court ruling was clear that MPs should align the Act and scrapping the fund, " he said.

Macharia said MPs had political enemies who were behind the court case that declared the fund unconditional.

"We have enemies who are jealous of how the fund has been utilized over the years," he said adding that MPs will be forced to take drastic action against the senate.