Members of parliament have urged the national treasury to release the NGCDF fund while, issuing a seven day notice failure to which they would call a special sitting to draft a motion against entities linked to the disbursement.
Speaking during a press conference to address the issue, the MPs said that constituencies were yet to receive any money from the government despite committing itself to disburse the funds by 20th December 2023 while needy students relied on the funds as schools reopen for the first term this year.
“CDF allocation on bursaries for the year, should be 35% of the CDF allocation which translates to about Kshs. 18.5B and no single sent has been disbursed in this respect with the consequence that there are many pupils and students who are stranded all over the country, said Rarienda MP, Otiende Amollo.
He said that the annual CDF allocation should be Kshs. 63B and being the 3rd quarter, the MPs should have received at least 75% of the allocation which translates to about Kshs. 46B yet none of them had received a single sent.
“Citizens of Kenya are now being made to believe that the legislators have received the money and were sitting on it, we want to make it clear that we have not received the money therefore urging the government to immediately release the entire amount that we ought to have received,” he insisted.
They also called for a withdrawal of a memo that had been sent to all CDF managers in the country dated 4th January 2024, claiming that money could not be released due to some amendments that were to be made on the CDF Act, prompting a recall and resubmission of proposals.
“In our opinion that memo is misguided, unlawful and improper because any amendment is to be applied on 1st July 2023 and that law should apply to CDF until 1st July 2024, so to issue a memo purporting you cannot release CDF funds because of amendments in December 2023 is mischievous and unlawful,” he added.
They also said that if the arguments were true, the amendment were to only affect sports and constituency oversight committee which was 6 % of the overall allocation of CDF hence the government should have released 94% of the allocation while indicating that they had withheld the 6%, pending adjustment.
“Therefore as a bi-partisan team comprising all members of the entire house, we demand that the entire allocation of CDF must be released within seven days, and if that is not done we will call for a special sitting and draft appropriate motion against the CS treasury, the CDF Board or any such entity we may determine at the time” the Mps.
MP Kabuchai Hon Majimbo Kalasinga accused the treasury of misleading the national speaker after giving him a statement that indicated money would be released on 20th December 2023.
“CDF is considered a second chance to many needy students while schools relied on this money even for infrastructure but money was being released to other sectors while CDF was left out,” he added.
Also speaking during the press brief, Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo, said that the delay in disbursement not only affected CDF but also the National Government Affirmative Action Funds which is under women representative.
“We are tired of people crowding our homes and being added to WhatsApp groups, we are servants of the people and if our people are suffering we must speak so we are not joking and we will face them head on,” she threatened.
