How Sh522bn of constituencies funds changed lives in 20 years

The National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) has had mixed results across the country, 20 years after it came into effect under the Mwai Kibaki regime.

With a total of 3,087 new public schools built from scratch, more than 26,000 new classrooms constructed and an estimated 1.2 million learners benefiting from bursary annually, supporters of the fund have pointed to its two-decade impact with an event attended by President William Ruto yesterday listing the achievements.

Despite instances of misappropriation of the fund over the years, official data by the board shows that school infrastructure financed by the fund has improved access to basic education by having additional 882,026 slots for learners in both primary and secondary schools.

Further, official numbers indicate that the fund has established 61 new Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTC) and 155 new Technical Institutes in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

The board’s Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Mbuno told Nation that in the last 20 years, the NGCDF has been allocated Sh522.57 billion cumulatively.

At the same time, the fund has also given MPs more leverage — despite controversy over their role — compared to the Senate that has no such kitty.

Although the law bars MPs from the day-to-day running of the funds, they still have a lot of sway on the award of multi-million-shilling road tenders and other contracts, that have turned into breeding ground for corruption as highlighted by the Auditor General in past reports.

The fund was initiated through the now repealed Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) Act of 2003 that came into effect on April 15, 2004.

Its primary objective was to address poverty at the grassroots level by dedicating a minimum of 2.5 per cent of national government revenue to the constituencies.

The idea of the fund was conceived by former Ol Kalou MP Muriuki Karue, who also served as a senator for Nyandarua.

In a previous interview, Mr Karue said: “The fund was an urgent intervention to the challenges locals faced. The principal tenets of the fund was to ensure government sets aside some money raised through taxes, then plough it back to the people.”

The law sets aside 2.5 per cent of the total revenue raised nationally to be shared among the constituencies.

The law also provides that eligible projects are those works and services that fall within the exclusive functions of the National Government as provided in the constitution.

Constituencies get different allocations depending on the number of wards and the money raised nationally.

Based on the new formula, 75 per cent of the fund allocation is shared equally among the 290 constituencies while the remaining 25 per cent of the fund is allocated to constituencies based on the number of wards a constituency has.

“Over the past two decades, the Fund has played a pivotal role in facilitating community driven development initiatives across the country, empowering local people and fostering socio-economic growth at the grassroots level.

"This has made the Fund to be one of the most successful decentralised development initiatives in the country,” said Mr Mbuno.

MPs who spoke with the Nation said said the fund has altered the political playing ground in the constituencies. The lawmakers said that before the funds, politicians were re-elected on the basis of being “vocal” on national issues.

“There is a big difference between an MP who was there before the fund was introduced because there is no development under their name,” said Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, adding that it was easy for voters to track a leader’s development record.

He added that the fund has made the office competitive because the voters know how to measure performance.

“Right now even in the villages, we have storey building classrooms done by CDF,” said Mr Barasa. Suba South MP Caroli Omondi described the fund as the most impactful development funding mechanism at the grassroots with tangible benefits to the local communities.

“It has enabled the local communities to have a voice in selecting their development priorities, overseeing their implementation and even participating as contractors and suppliers of projects.

Through school bursary and feeding programmes, the NG-CDF is key to offering social protection to the most vulnerable at the grassroots,” said Mr Omondi.

The lawmaker called for urgent harmonisation of funding pathways, especially for meals in secondary schools. He said there was a lot of duplication in some of the programmes by national and county governments.

Mr Zaheer Jhanda, the Nyaribari Chache MP, described the fund as unique while citing the need to increase it to cover more projects. He said the fund supports an estimated 15,000 learners in his constituency.

Mwala MP Vincent Kawaya said it is only NG-CDF where locals directly participate in choosing projects to prioritise.

He talked of bursaries that have continued to support learners from poor backgrounds as one of the success stories. There have, however, been complaints in some constituencies over the amounts and criteria of allocation.

The lawmaker is, however, calling for a review on how the fund is shared among the 290 constituencies, saying population, land mass and development index should be factored in the allocations.

He said constituencies in urban areas, do not need much money because most of their roads are done by Kenya Urban Roads Authority.

“Some constituencies are the size of a ward in my area. We also have constituencies that are more developed and therefore may not need much for things like roads. It is my suggestion that the fund has to address issues of land mass, population and development index. In vast but sparsely populated areas, you spend more because you have to take services closer to the people,” he explained.

The fund has also faced major challenges, including misappropriation. Cases of inflation of contract costs have also characterised award of some of tenders.

Some of the roads and classrooms done by the fund have also turned up being substandard. Some lawmakers have also turned the fund to an avenue for kickbacks from contractors, occasioning losses of billions in corruption.

Early this year, a report by the State Department for Public Works revealed that classrooms in 10 out of 12 schools in Kimilili were structurally unsound. Another class in Aldai Constituency was unfit for habitation.

The legality of the fund has also been contested all the way to the Supreme Court. In the run up to the August 2022 poll, the Supreme Court declared the fund unconstitutional.

A bench of five judges led by Chief Justice Martha Koome ruled that the CDF Act violates the principle of separation of powers.

But MPs have continued with the implementation of the fund, with a Bill in Parliament to entrench it in the Constitution.

The fund was one of the items under deliberations in the National Dialogue Committee (Nadco), whose report recommended its enactment.