MPs set Sh100m CDF cash target for every constituency
What you need to know:
The changes mean that no constituency will get less than Sh100 million starting from the 2015/16 financial year and that total allocation to CDF from the Treasury will not fall below Sh29 billion in any financial year.
Each of the 290 constituencies will receive Sh837.9 million for rehabilitation of public primary and secondary schools.
MPs also passed a resolution that will see the regulations amended, giving them power to remove one or all members of the CDF committees.
Members of Parliament have unanimously voted to increase the minimum amount of money allocated to each of the 290 constituencies to Sh100 million. This effectively lifts the share of the funds for 82 electoral areas that are currently getting less than the amount.
The resolution was made as the MPs debated Planning secretary Anne Waiguru’s proposed amendments to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) regulations.
“The budget ceiling for each constituency shall be determined in accordance with the basis for allocating resources prescribed under the CDF Act, provided that such budget ceiling for each constituency shall in any case not be less than Sh100 million,” the proposed regulation states.
The changes mean that no constituency will get less than Sh100 million starting from the 2015/16 financial year and that total allocation to CDF from the Treasury will not fall below Sh29 billion in any financial year. Each constituency will henceforth be allocated Sh100 million of the CDF funds before the rest is shared based on population, estimated number of poor households, poverty headcount and contribution to national poverty as a percentage.
The CDF Act sets aside 0.5 per cent of the total revenue raised nationally to be shared among the constituencies.
Some Sh33 billion has been set aside for the fund in the current financial year (2014/15), up from Sh21.9 billion in the financial year ended June 31, 2014 and Sh17 billion in 2012/13. The Sh33 billion includes Sh5 billion that was reallocated from the Ministry of Education’s budget to the CDF for improvement of school infrastructure.
Each of the 290 constituencies will receive Sh837.9 million for rehabilitation of public primary and secondary schools.
The CDF allocation schedule prepared by the CDF committee in consultation with the CDF Board shows that Mandera South Constituency got the largest share of the funds (Sh182.9 million) while Lamu East received the least at Sh85.2 million.
All of Nairobi’s 17 constituencies received less than Sh100 million with Westlands getting the least amount at Sh92.5 million while the highest went to Mathare at Sh97.8 million. Changes to the CDF regulations were approved after MPs agreed with the joint committee’s proposal that part of Ms Waiguru’s proposals be annulled.
“The joint committee established that the Cabinet Secretary had not incorporated some fundamental proposals contained in the CDF committee’s report,” the committee report said. “Further, some of the regulations presented by the Cabinet Secretary were already in the principal Act (CDF Act 2013).”
The committee annulled Regulation 5 that allowed the minister 14 days to issue notices for public meetings on the CDF, saying it was too long. An officer of the CDF Board in consultation with the area MP will convene an open public meeting for election of members of the CDF committees within seven days.
MPs also passed a resolution that will see the regulations amended, giving them power to remove one or all members of the CDF committees.
“In addition to resignation and removal of a member of the CDF committee under Section 24 of the Act, the member of the National Assembly in consultation with an officer of the board may remove one or all members of the CDF committee on any one or more of the grounds set out in the Act,” the MPs said in the adopted report.
Besides, MPs are seeking annulment of the provision requiring two members of the CDF committee to be appointed as signatories to the bank accounts. “It is not necessary to have two members appointed through a resolution of the CDF committee as signatories to CDF bank accounts,” the MPs said.
The legislators also annulled the section of the proposed regulations that would have excluded technical persons from the CDF committee, and instead recommended that they be appointed outside the CDF committees as members of the Inspections and Acceptance sub-committee “to offer technical expertise”.
