MPs in Parliament. If the MPs manage to push for the constitutional amendment and entrench the 10 per cent minimum allocation to CDF, they will control over Sh330 billion annually. File
What you need to know:
If the MPs manage to push for the constitutional amendment and entrench the 10 per cent minimum allocation to CDF, MPs will control over Sh330 billion annually.
The supreme law requires any member seeking to amend the Constitution to secure the backing of two thirds of the majority of members.
Kenya's members of parliament (MPs) are plotting to amend the Constitution to increase the allocations to Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) from the current 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total audited revenue raised by national government.
If the MPs manage to push for the constitutional amendment and entrench the 10 per cent minimum allocation to CDF, they will control over Sh330 billion annually. In the current financial year, Treasury has allocated Sh33 billion to the MPs kitty. Out of this, Sh31.56 billion will be shared between the 290 constituencies and Sh1.64 billion will be retained to run the CDF board and the secretariat.
Twenty MPs have so far signed a petition which if approved by two thirds majority of MPs, will see the total allocations of CDF split equally in wards within the constituencies. There are 1,450 wards in the country.
Through Lugari MP Ayub Savula, the MPs are collecting 200 signatures to initiate a constitutional amendment through Parliamentary initiative option provided for in the Supreme Law.
“This does not mean that MPs are going to undermine the referendum being called by CORD or Governors. This is purely a CDF initiative. It does not concern the referendum being pushed by governors or Cord,” Savula said.
The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and Council of Governors are pushing for a national referendum to increase the allocations to county governments from 15 per cent of the total revenue raised nationally to 43 per cent.
The supreme law requires any member seeking to amend the Constitution to secure the backing of two thirds of the majority of members. There are 390 MPs in the national assembly.
MPs Junnet Mohammed, Awiti Bollo, Daniel Kitonga, John Kobado, Fred Outa, Philip Rotino, John Serut, Florence Mutua, Vincent Musyoka, Mark Lomunokol, Andrew Toboso, Tim Wanyonyi, Aduma Owour, Aramat Lemankon, Suleiman Murunga, Sharif Ali, Manson Nyamweya and Alfred Sambu are among those who have signed the petition.
Audit fees
The revelation of the proposed constitutional review came at a time when the Select Committee on CDF rejected a Sh145 million bill presented by the Auditor General Edward Ouko to MPs in order to facilitate audit of CDF.
Mr Ouko, through his director of Audit (Devolved Funds) Elizabeth Nguring’a told the CDF committee chaired by Eldama Ravine MP Moses Lesonett that each of the 290 constituencies will be required to pay Sh500,000 in audit fees.
The CDF acting chief executive officer Yusuf Mbuno had written to all CDF committee to prepare for audits and set aside Sh500,000 for the exercise. “We normally charge other State parastatals a nominal audit fee in line with provisions of the Public Audit Act,” she told the committee yesterday.
Ms Nguring’a said it is a requirement under the CDF Act 2013 for the auditor-general to audit all the 290 CDF accounts.
“We expect to raise funds through Appropriation in Aid (A-I-A) from charging Sh500,000 audit fees per constituency,” she told members of the committee who rejected the proposals. The committee said Sh500,000 per constituency is enough to provide bursary funds to 20 students and challenged the auditor to explain if the office audits other devolved funds like the Youth Fund.
“We fund you through budgetary allocations from the central government. Why don’t you include audit fees for CDF in your annual budget for us to approve?” Mr Lesonett asked. The committee directed Mr Mbuno to withdraw the circular to all CDF committees requiring them to set funds aside for the audit.
“I want to direct you to go back to Mr Ouko and inform him that we are not going to part with the Sh500,000. We want him to conduct the audit and ensure that the cost is charged to the exchequer,” Lesonett said.
He challenged the Auditor General to come up with a practical cost of auditing a CDF committee saying the highest that a private auditor can pay for auditing a constituency account is Sh80,000.
Ms Nguring’a who was in charge of the defunct Local Authorities said the least the auditor charged for a municipality was Sh150,000.
“We want the auditor to prepare a budget of Sh29 million in the supplementary budget to cater for the 290 constituency audits. This will mean that each constituency does not pay more than Sh100,000 in audit fees,” Lesonett told the director of audit.
The MPs said CDF had contributed to massive development of the constituencies with social services taking the lead.
