CDF committee assures Kenyans views will be captured in report

The Parliamentary select committee on CDF has assured Kenyans that all their views to have the CDF Act amended will be captured in the final report that will be presented to Parliament.

The committee has been touring different parts of the country to get Kenyans views on the Act that seeks to increase resources from 2.5 to five per cent.

Speaking at the Garissa library where they held a public participation meeting with representatives from six constituencies to collect their views, the committees chair Wafula Wamunyinyi said among the things Kenyans want is to have some of the functions co-shared by both the National and county governments also performed by CDF.

Wamunyinyi who was accompanied by MPs Sophia Abdi Noor (Ijara), Lodepe Nakoru (Turkana Central) and Joseph Oyula (Butula) said the CDF kitty has its foot prints across the country noting that any amendment to the Act should be aimed at improving it.

Wamunyinyi who later led the committee to tour Tumaini secondary school to see some of the projects being undertaken by the CDF kitty, said the funds have not only transformed the lives of the citizens but also improved the general infrastructure of schools and other areas.

“You can see for yourself what CDF can do. This is a school that started in 2017 but see how far it has gone.  All the buildings from the classrooms to a modern library that has been equipped have been done by CDF. The school’s principal himself admitted that without CDF, there could not have a school here,” he said.

Abdinoor said Kenyans across the country have appreciated the impact the CDF kitty has had in their lives noting that increasing it means more services to the people.

“I can tell you for a fact that Kenyans across the country have nothing but praise for the CDF kitty that has touched millions of lives.  Many children from this country would not have been able to go to school or finish their education were it not for the CDF kitty,” she said.

She added, “People have been telling us to find ways to expand the resources and we are telling them that ours is to collect their views, present the same to Parliament which will make recommendations to the President for rejection or approval, but we are optimistic he will approve.”

Turkana Central MP said going forward in their recommendations, they will also seek to have some co-shared function like water be done by CDF. He said majority of residents especially pastoralists where water remains a scarce commodity, have made the request.

“In fact majority of Kenyans who spoke not only in Garissa but many other places that we have been to, are calling for an increase of the funds to 10 per cent and not even five per cent because its impact has been felt across,”  he said.

The key functions performed by the CDF money are  educational activities that include putting up structures in schools, paying bursaries for students, security functions and social amenities as well as health programmes.

The CDF was introduced in Kenya in 2003 with the passage of the CDF Act 2003 by the ninth Parliament. It targeted all constituency-level development projects, particularly those aimed at combating poverty at the grassroots.

It was aimed to achieve equitable distribution of development resources across regions and to control imbalances in regional development brought about by partisan politics.

Three quarters of the amount is divided equitably between Kenya's 290 constituencies whilst the remaining 1/4th is divided based on a poverty index to cater for poorer constituencies.

-Edited by SKanyara