State kicks off audit of ghost, stalled CDF projects

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir is joined by Mvita CDF commitee members to hand over dummy cheques worth Ksh 12 million as bursary funds for needy pupils in the constituency on March 15,2014. /FILE
Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir is joined by Mvita CDF commitee members to hand over dummy cheques worth Ksh 12 million as bursary funds for needy pupils in the constituency on March 15,2014. /FILE

The state is identifying and auditing abandoned CDF projects which fall under county functions with the intention of completing them.

The Star has established the identification and audit of projects - mostly under the devolved functions of water, health and market sectors - in 290 constituencies will end next month.

National Government Constituency Development Fund acting CEO Yusuf Mbuno yesterday said the verification entails establishing the status of the projects and calculating the total cost of completion.

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"Those projects have to be financed because if left, it will be a waste of taxpayers’ money. We cannot automatically hand them over to county governments to complete because they had not budgeted for them," Mbuno told the Star.

The projects were abandoned in 2016 following the enactment of the new National Government CDF Act limiting the state’s constituency funded projects to education and security.

The Act sought to curb duplication of roles between the national and county governments in implementing various functions outlined in the Fourth Schedule of the 2010 Constitution.

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The new Act required the NG-CDF board to ensure constituencies concentrate on programmes that fll under the national government from September 2016.

"We had to stop funding functions that do not fall under the national government yet there were many ongoing projects. This posed a challenge since projects were still there but the new law could not allow us to allocate funds for their implementation," Mbuno said.

He said discussions are ongoing among his board, National Assembly and the State, and specifically the Devolution and Treasury ministries.

The Council of Governors has not been involved in the discussion although Mbonu said governors will come on board after the project verification and audit process is complete.

"Governors are aware and we will need to have a formal discussion with them before we embark on completing the projects," he said.

The NGCDF board is banking on the Exchequer to fund the abandoned projects after establishing the total cost of funding.

"I cannot give an estimate cost as at now because the inventory is still being updated," Mbonu said.

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