The Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) has allocated the money for the National Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) under the Treasury budget.
Julius Muia, the Treasury PS told the committee that disbursements of the Sh4.98 billion will be done after completing the payment of the NG-CDF allocation for the current financial year in mid-April.
The total allocation to CDF in this financial year is Sh41.7 billion but the Treasury was yet to release a balance of Sh18 billion as at February 17, 2022.
MPs have allocated themselves Sh4.9 billion as they rush to implement constituency projects ahead of the August 9 General Elections.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) has allocated the money for the National Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) under the Treasury budget.
“Increase Sh4.9 billion to the NG-CDF,” BAC says in a report on the Supplementary Estimates I tabled in Parliament last evening.
The Treasury had last month told the Finance and National Planning Committee that Sh4,976,500,000 is the NG-CDF arrears for the financial years 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2014/15 and will be factored in Supplementary Estimates No. 1 of 2021/22.
Julius Muia, the Treasury PS told the committee that disbursements of the Sh4.98 billion will be done after completing the payment of the NG-CDF allocation for the current financial year in mid-April.
The total allocation to CDF in this financial year is Sh41.7 billion but the Treasury was yet to release a balance of Sh18 billion as at February 17, 2022.
The Treasury has been disbursing Sh2 billion to constituencies weekly for CDF allocations for the 2021/22 financial year.
“The balance as at February 17, 2022, was Sh18 billion which will be cleared by mid-April,” Dr Muia told the Gladys Wanga-led committee.
The delay in disbursing money to constituencies has created friction with MPs accusing the Treasury of sabotaging projects and educational scholarship.
MPs have been pushing for speedy release of the monies to help them complete stalled and new projects as they seek to please voters ahead of the August polls
MPs have previously lamented that failure by the Treasury to release cash meant for the 290 constituencies had stalled planned projects.
The NG-CDF Act, 2015 sets aside 2.5 percent of the total revenue raised nationally to be shared among the constituencies.
Out of the CDF budget of Sh41.7 billion, each of the 290 constituencies has been allocated Sh137 million for development in the year to June 2022.
The NG-CDF committee has previously tussled with the Treasury following failure to release cash to the constituencies.
This led the Treasury to enter into a pact with MPs to be releasing Sh2 billion weekly to the NG-CDF, an agreement that the Treasury has continued to honour.
