Nyoro pleads with court to reconsider CDF ruling

The chairman of Budget and Appropriations Committee at the National Assembly Ndindi Nyoro has appealed to the High Court to reconsider its recent ruling that declared the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act 2015 as unconstitutional.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Nyoro said the Fund has impacted the lives of many Kenyans and that it should be given permanence.

“With a lot of humility, I would request the Judiciary to reconsider that ruling. Over the years, there has been a misconception that NG-CDF belongs to the MPs. It is one of the most efficiently appropriated funds in Kenya,” the Kiharu MP said.

Schools kitty

He said that through the kitty, 112 public primary schools in his constituency have been rehabilitated.

“All the classrooms in public primary schools within my constituency have been tiled, courtesy of NG-CDF. The fund greatly helps in ensuring that lots of projects are rolled out efficiently including construction and rehabilitation of police stations,” Nyoro said.

“Actually, this Fund should be given permanence so that we can be able to allocate it budget as a fund that has posterity. Many countries have been coming to benchmark with us on how we utilize NG-CDF. Why would we then go ahead and disband it.”

Kieni MP Njoroge Wainaina and his Tetu counterpart Geoffrey Wandeto said that the kitty has structures that have over the years transformed the lives of Kenyans.

“NG-CDF belongs to the community and is the most effective. This kitty has streamlined structures and I am sure that some members of the Judiciary are beneficiaries of this Fund either directly or indirectly.

Wandeto said the Fund has proper structures that have ensured seamless and equal disbursement of bursaries to learners.

“My proposal is that since the NG-CDF bursary scheme is the majority, we need to consolidate all the other scattered schemes together under the NG-CDF kitty. MPs have run bursary schemes for a long time. They have developed structures and systems to run it effectively. Let us use the method that seems to be delivering the best results,” Wandeto said.

Programmes to cease

Recently, Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Mugure Thande, and Roselyne Aburili ruled that the Fund and all its projects, programmes, and activities shall cease to operate on June 30, 2026.

NG-CDF has been in operation since 2003. “We are also alive to the fact that there are short, medium and long-term projects being implemented by the fund. We are now in the middle of the financial year, and funds may have been allocated for ongoing projects,” the bench said.