A poor Fisherman, who lived on the fish he caught, had bad luck one day and caught nothing but a very small fry.
The Fisherman was about to put it in his basket when the little Fish said: “Please spare me, Mr Fisherman! I am so small it is not worthwhile to carry me home. When I am bigger, I shall make you a much better meal.”
But the Fisherman quickly put the fish into his basket. "How foolish I should be,” he said, “to throw you back. However small you may be, you are better than nothing at all.”
The moral of this story is that a small gain is worth more than a large promise.
Last week, President William Ruto opened Parliament and outlined some of the things that will be important to his administration. One of the things that stood out for me was the reintroduction of the National Government Constituency Development Fund.
One of the most critical things that we have to think about when talking about NG-CDF is that it was the first form of devolution of resources since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy. It has allowed money to go down to the people for local development.
Everywhere you go in this country, you will find a hospital or a school that has either been built or equipped through NG-CDF. The NG-CDF has also become a key component of education through the bursaries that MPs have organised through it.
Last month, the Supreme Court declared that the NG-CDF was unconstitutional in its nature but this does not negate the contribution it has made in making life better for Kenyan citizens. What needs to be done is to align the Fund to the Constitution to ensure that it is within the law.
The ruling by the Supreme Court is a big blow to mwananchi as the NG-CDF has had a very big impact in local communities. It is not right that the court decided to throw out the baby with the bathwater without weighing the advantages that the Fund has on Kenyans.
Speaker Moses Wetang'ula stated that an MP at the grassroots level “is a funeral undertaker, midwife, extension officer, vet, a counsellor on social issues, and the local ATM.” What he should have added is that MPs have a clear grasp of local issues and the NG-CDF has been a tool used to impact the farthest corners of the nation.
One way that NG-CDF has been defined is that it has been a tool for ironing out regional imbalances brought about by patronage politics by fighting poverty through the implementation of local development projects.
According to the NG-CDF Board, in the education sector funds have been used to build 21,034 classrooms, therefore, providing room for about one million more students. In addition, up to one million students benefit from CDF bursaries each year increasing retention rate.
The NG-CDF Heath Insurance Subsidy Programme has seen 73,257 families benefit under the Social Security Programme in the last two years. Additionally, NG-CDF has been used to restore forests in more than 1,630 sites annually.
Across the country, tens of youth empowerment centres have been built and equipped through NG-CDF money. At the same time, 76 constituencies have benefited from supported infrastructure development programme that has constructed courthouses.
NG-CDF funds have been used to build 627 houses for police officers and 763 houses for teachers across the country. Some 130 tertiary training institutions have continued to provide technical skills necessary for the manufacturing sector through NG-CDF.
Other projects that have been supported by NG-CDF include 119 innovation hubs, 28 Kenya Medical Training Colleges, 2,133 office blocks for administrators and 428 police posts/camps.
We, therefore, see a clear benefit of NG-CDF, which has seen local artisans benefit through the provision of materials and services across the country. Cutting off NG-CDF means slowing down economic empowerment and, thus, an increase in poverty and unemployment.
Just like the President said, Parliament must find a way to bring back NG-CDF expeditiously and revert funding back into this worthwhile initiative. There is room to ensure that NG-CDF works within the Constitution and that all Kenyans benefit from its work.
