Treasury CS Amb. Ukur Yatani has maintained that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) remains illegal as declared by the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the press in Naivasha on Thursday, September 22, during the induction of Senators, Yatani said the Treasury will not release any funds for CDF.
However, the CS said that the Treasury has already sought advice from the Attorney General for further direction as it was a sensitive matter.
“The Supreme Court has made a pronouncement that CDF is illegal and therefore we are not going to disburse funds but we sought advice from the attorney general for further direction. Because I know it is a very sensitive matter,” Amb. Yatani said.
While agreeing that CDF had changed lives of many people, Amb. Yatani, however, said that there has been a lot of wastage in the fund in terms of accounting of the resources.
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“It’s a matter that politicians mainly the ones in the National Assembly hold very dear and to some extent it has changed lives of people. But also don’t rule out to a great extent that there has been a lot of wastage in terms of the accounting for resources,” the CS added.
Amb. Yatani maintained that the treasury will follow the advice that will be issued by the Attorney General insisting that currently CDF was illegal.
“Whatever advice we are going to get from the Attorney general is what we are going to go by. But as it is, it has been rendered illegal by the Supreme Court,” Amb. Yatani said.
Chief Justice Martha Koome on Wednesday, September 21, reiterated the Supreme Court’s decision on CDF adding that it was unconstitutional to allocate funds to CDF before division of revenue between national and county governments.
“More recently in the CDF Case (2022); the Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to allocate funds to the CDF before the division of revenue between the national and county governments,” CJ Koome said.
