How Members of the National Assembly plotted to hold onto CDF

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU and ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

KENYA: Members of the National Assembly last week moved to consolidate their grip on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) following amendments that were passed in a record time.

The MPs cunningly amended the CDF Act to anchor it on Article 206 of the Constitution instead of Article 202 of the supreme law in a scheme that seeks to change the course a pending High Court case.

The law had stipulated that CDF money was part of the money allocated to county governments, but the MPs now say, the money is strictly for the constituencies.

The move was also meant to change the course of a case lodged at the High Court by the Commission on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) to have CDF scrapped and the money sent to governors.

Whereas Article 202 addresses the manner in which the national government can allocate the funds to counties as grants, the MPs move as place the CDF as a charge on the consolidated fund under Article 206.

Article 202 (2) of the Constitution states that: County governments may be given additional allocations from the national government’s share of the revenue, either conditionally or unconditionally while 206 (2)(b) as a charge against the Fund as authorised by this Constitution or an Act of Parliament.

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka moved the amendment that now stipulates that “this act is anchored on article 206 (2) (b) of the Constitution and not Article 202.”

“Charles Nyachae and others have been telling us that CDF is part of devolved funds but with these amendments no one will claim from the kitty. It’s exclusively for MPs,” Onyonka told The Standard on Sunday.

The chairman of the CDF committee Moses Lessonet tabled the amendment to the CDF Act saying it had “erroneously” categorised the CDF money as part of the “additional revenues to county governments”.

“CDF was formerly anchored on the devolution chapter but the amendment has now shifted goal pasts in that court matter,” Lessonet said.

Rabai MP William Mwamkale Kamoti added: “Once the president assents the amendment into law, then we will instruct our legal team to inform the court of the developments.”

The CIC, Governors and Senators have been arguing that there’s likely to be a duplication of projects between the CDF team and the county team if there’s no mechanism to check that.

“The parallel system of managing resources is not good for the economy. Its ok for CDF to come as a direct grant to the constituencies but the county government should have a say and not MPs,” Senate Devolution Committee chairman Kipchumba Murkomen says.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar Hassan urged President Kenyatta not to rush into assenting the Bill into law and allow the court process to conclude.

“The President should carefully determine if the amendments were in good faith or an attempt to defeat the justice system. He should allow the court to make a determination,” Omar said.

The senator warned that the CDF kitty should not be used for political patronage, saying MPs should concentrate on their main role of oversight and legislation and leave resource management to national and county governments.

The move to change the Bill is just to shield the CDF from the county governments, who have been arguing that the role of MPs is that of representation, oversight and legislation; and therefore they have no business getting into the implementation of projects and actual spending of Government funds.

“Whereas I understand the justification of MPs to hold on to CDF which they have used for political patronage but whatever they want to meander, the Constitution will provide the way out,” Omar added.

However, Lessonet maintained that: “The spirit of the Act is that the Fund be administered at constituency level as it arises from the powers conferred upon Parliament…to impose a charge on the Consolidated Fund.”

The governors and senators have been pushing for the money under CDF to be included in the budget for the counties and be administered from the counties through the governors and the county executives.

Full amount

The total kitty to all the 47 county governments is Sh210 billion, while the full amount to the CDF for this financial year is Sh21 billion.

There has been a push and pull between MPs and the county governors on who will be in charge of roads in the counties, more so, at this time when the money for urban and rural roads is still domiciled in the National Government agencies such as the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority to pay for the existing contracts.

The MPs had wanted the money for the roads deducted from the county budget of Sh210 billion and taken to the specific constituencies, but because the Division of Revenue Bill, dividing the money between counties and national government had already been passed, they said such a move will be looked at as if they were fighting devolution.

Apart from the CDF, other funds that are spent at the grassroots include the Youth Development Fund and the Women Fund.