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The National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) Board has proposed a progressive increment of the kitty allocation from the national budget to increase development projects at the grassroots.

Currently, treasury allocates 2.5 percent of the National budget to the NG-CDF for the 290 constituencies in the country, which translates to around Sh 41 billion in total and Sh 137 million per constituency.

Having been satisfied with the prudent use of the funds in constituencies across the country and a feel of value for the money at the grassroots levels, the board rooted for progressive increase in the kitty they are allocated to aid in spurring economic developments across the country.

Board members led by Chairman Robert Masese, CEO Yusuf Buno and Director Dr Isabel Waiyaki who joined Gatundu North MP Wanjiku Kibe and residents in the official opening of the newly-built Igamba primary school praised the works being done by the area NG-CDF.

The officials said that such developments especially in the education sector are key to ending decongestion of schools especially during the Covid-19 period where social distancing is highly required and necessary among learners, and that increasing the CDF allocation would actualize the developments.

“Most of our 290 constituencies have registered increased prudent use of the NG-CDF kitty and we are proud that our training and sensitization campaigns have been working.

“Although we have seen developments being felt courtesy of the fund, constituencies have so many challenges that cannot all be solved by the kitty. We are hoping that the government will progressively increase the funding to aid more developments,” said Dr. Waiyaki.

On her part, MP Wanjiku Kibe opined that the government should raise the kitty allocation to five percent of the National Budget to expedite meaningful development projects at the grassroot level.

She said that most constituencies have managed to do sizable development works with the current allocation and that an increase would mean massive education, security and health sectors development that are geared towards bettering lives of the common citizens.

“The good thing with the CDF money is that you can hardly misuse or embezzle it for personal gains. That is why we have so many development projects that Kenyans can associate with CDF,” she said.

Kibe called for stringent measures to be taken against unscrupulous individuals who spend the cash to enrich themselves at the expense of developments in the grassroots.

In the meantime, the first time MP noted that the Gatundu North NG-CDF spent Sh 12 million to build the new Igamba primary school adding that some 6 million has been set aside in this financial year for its expansion.

The new school was built to relocate the old one which was due for demolition to allow for the ongoing construction of Gatukuyu-Kairi-Gituamba-Mataara road.

Parents who hailed the development revealed that their children’s former learning space had no playground, no space for expansion and the over 400 learners at the school were suffering a lot due to congestion

The parents who could not hide their joy as they welcomed the new said that their children will now comfortably learn in a good environment.

“We feared to elect a woman as a parliamentarian but we now can see the fruits of our votes. She has given dignity to our children thereby increasing their esteem and that will definitely result in good performance,” said Eunice Nyambura, a parent.