No CDF Next Year, Court Rules

This follows a High Court ruling nullifying the Constituency Development Fund Act 2013 terming it as unconstitutional.

Justice David Majanja ruled that the Act undermines the spirit of devolution and the Principle of Separation of Powers. He gave the government one year to ammend the Act.

The ruling comes after The Institute of Social Accountability (TISA) successfully sued the National Assembly and the CDF board for undermining devolution, principles of public finance and the separation of powers.

The Constituency Development Fund was introduced in Kenya in 2003 after the 9th Parliament passed the CDF Act 2003.

The CDF Act provides that the government set aside at least 2.5% of its ordinary revenue for disbursement under the program.

Three quarters of the amount is divided equitably between Kenya’s 290 constituencies whilst the remaining quarter is divided based on a poverty index to cater for poorer constituencies.

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION

The constituency is the unit of political representation in Kenya of which there are 290 in the country.

The fund was designed to support constituency-level, grass-root development projects.

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

It targeted all constituency-level development projects, particularly those aiming to combat poverty at the grassroots.

The CDF program has facilitated the putting up of new water, health and education facilities in all parts of the country, including remote areas that were usually overlooked during funds allocation in national budgets.

By Maureen Murimi