Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has affirmed his support for the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) amid calls for its abolishment.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, April 16, Mbadi highlighted the impact that the fund has had at the grassroots level.
As such, he reiterated the government's commitment to resource devolution through both the NG-CDF and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
“I want to agree with you, Mr. Speaker (Moses Wetang'ula), that NG-CDF has been a revolutionary fund in this country, and I also want to associate myself that this government supports devolution and devolution of resources.
"There cannot be any other better fund that is well devolved than NG-CDF. I still remain committed to devolution of resources and support to NG-CDF and NGAAF," he said.
Read More
Mbadi further provided a breakdown of the Treasury's disbursement schedule for NG-CDF funds from December to date.
“I committed myself that beginning December, we will be releasing Ksh7 billion every month to the NG-CDF fund board. On December 13, the National Treasury released Ksh7 billion; on February 20th, we again released another seven billion.
"You will note that we did not release any money in January. In the month of March, after releasing the money for February, we defaulted. In the month of April, I have evidence that we released another Ksh7 billion,” he stated.
Mbadi also addressed the allocation for NGAAF, noting that the Treasury has disbursed all the required funds as of today.
“For the NGAAF, the initial budget was Ksh3.2 billion that was reduced to Ksh2.7 billion after the supplementary budget; we had already released Ksh1.6 billion, today we released the balance of Ksh1.1 billion. We have zero balance for NGAAF,” he added.
On Tuesday, April 15, former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi called for the abolishment of the NG-CDF.
In a statement, the former CS labelled the initiative as a breeding ground for corruption and abuse of public funds.
"NG-CDF is a corrupt, illegal and unconstitutional slush fund to unjustly enrich the MPs, their families and cronies and should, therefore, be scrapped," he said.
NG-CDF, created under the NG-CDF Act of 2015, was established to promote grassroots development by allocating funds directly to constituencies.
The primary aim of the initiative is to address socio-economic development at the constituency level, promoting equitable regional development.
On the other hand, NGAAF, established in 2015, operates as a semi-autonomous government agency (SAGA) under the State Department for Gender Affairs.
NGAAF aims to address the needs of vulnerable groups, including women, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), children, and the elderly.
Its primary objectives are to provide financial support and resources to enable self-reliance among marginalized communities.
NGAAF also offers bursaries and scholarships to needy students, implement programs that improve health services and social protection for vulnerable populations.
The initiative which operates through county-based programs also supports the construction and improvement of facilities that benefit target groups.
