Nairobi — The National Assembly will next week embark debate on a bill which seeks the reinforcement of the National Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) in law by amending the Constitution (2010) through a parliamentary initiative.
The bill co-sponsored by Matungulu Member of Parliament Stephen Mule and his Gichungu counterpart Robert Gichumu is pushing for the reestablishment of the Fund and its anchoring in law to avert disruptions on technicalities of the law.
House Speaker Moses Wetangula mentioned that the proposed amendment, having obtained the required threshold of more than 50 signatures, gad been cleared for debate.
"On Tuesday I will accord the sponsors an opportunity of 20 minutes each to make statements on the proposal in the house. During the same siting I will allow the house to make general statement and direct the bill to the relevant committee," Speaker Wetangula said.
In the Constitution Amendment Bill 2022, the MPs are also seeking the establishment of the National Government Affirmative Fund, Senate Oversight Fund and Economic Stimulus and Empowerment Fund.
"The net effect of the entrenchment of the funds in the Constitution is to guarantee developmental benefits without undue interruption to the people by channeling resources to meet the ever-increasing need of the people of Kenya," the bill reads.
The bill seeks to double the allocation of NG-CDF to 5 percent from the current 2.5 percent by amending the NG-CDF Act of 2015.
"There be established the National Government Constituencies Development Fund which shall be a national government fund consisting of monies of an amount of not less than 5 percent of all the national government share of revenue as divided by the annual Division of Revenue Act enacted pursuant to Article 218," the proposed law reads.
The bill also an allocation of 0.001 per cent of national government revenue, as divided in the Division of Revenue Act, to the Senate Oversight Fund.
Lawmakers argued that the bill doesn't in any way affect the function and powers of the county governments in anticipation of any efforts to thwart the bill.
"Further, the establishment of the Senate Oversight Fund in the Constitution will ensure that the Senate is adequately empowered and resourced to perform its function as stipulated in Article 96 of the constitution," the bill reads.
Parliament will also seek to enact the legislation to provide for the operation of the economic stimulus and empowerment fund whose objective will be to empower women, men, youth and persons living with disabilities.
According to Mule, the bill has received goodwill from members having collected 335 signatures in support of the changes in the legislation.
"The amendment is to ensure we have money that can be availed to deal with scenarios we are having right now where Judiciary do what they want," he said.
"I believe I have done my due diligence and this fund will not be subjected to any judicial procedure anymore in the future," he added.
The quest to reintroduce NG-CDF comes days after President William Ruto asked MPs to take measures to protect the Sh44.3 billion Fund and establish an oversight kitty for Senators to oversight cash transfers to counties.
Ruto told Parliament to align NG-CDF to the requirements of the Constitution in order to save the kitty.
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"I know the contribution the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) has made in making life better for our citizens. I believe there is a way NG-CDF can be aligned to the tenets of the Constitution."
The National Treasury had announced it will not allocate monies to the NG-CDF following the Supreme Court's judgment that declared it unconstitutional.
A bench of five judges led by Chief Justice Martha Koome ruled that the CDF Act (2013) violates the principle of separation of powers, hence was unconstitutional.
While overturning the Court of Appeal decision that upheld the CDF Act, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to the extend that it sought to extend national government's mandate to counties.
The court held that the CDF Act 2013 offends the division of functions between the national and county governments.
