Nairobi gets lion’s share of CDF cash

Nairobi County got the largest share of this year’s Constituency Development Fund with Sh1.4 billion for its 17 constituencies.

The constituencies were allocated between Sh66 million and Sh98.5 million with the largest going to Mathare, Kibra and Ruaraka constituencies home to most of the urban poor in slums.

Poverty levels and population played a key role in the allocations.

Kakamega County received Sh865.7 million for its 12 constituencies with Malava getting Sh94.98 million which has the highest population in the county of 205,171.

Kilifi County has Sh735.5 million going to its seven constituencies, four of them getting more than Sh100 million.

Kwale County, whose Kinango Constituency is this year’s overall largest constituency recipient, has Sh483.3 million for its four constituencies. Magarini which received Sh149.4 million and Kinango with Sh170.

5 million, share poverty levels of 54.4 per cent. Kinango, however, has a bigger population than Magarini.

Mandera’s six constituencies received Sh672.6 million. Only Mandera East received below Sh100 million with the rest getting over Sh100 million. Mandera South got Sh159.5 million.

Turkana County received a total allocation of Sh593.4 million for its six constituencies, the bulk going to Turkana West at Sh143.3 million.

In Meru County, all the constituencies were allocated less than Sh100 million but it has Sh619.5 million for all the nine constituencies.

Mombasa County will receive Sh522.2 million for its six constituencies.

Kitui South and Mwingi North in Kitui County got Sh100.3 million and Sh91.6 million, while in Makueni County, Makueni Constituency got Sh107.3 million and Kilome the least with Sh52.7 million.

No constituency in Machakos, Garissa, Taita Taveta, Lamu, Tana River, Kiambu, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Embu, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Isiolo, Marsabit, West Pokot, Samburu, Trans Nzoia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Baringo, Laikipia, Nakuru, Narok, Kajiado Kericho, Bomet, Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira and Nairobi got more than Sh100 million.

In Bungoma County, Kanduyi constituency was the largest recipient with an allocation of Sh103.9 million while in Wajir County, Wajir North was the only with over Sh100 million allocation from the kitty with Sh100.5 million.

A look at the sharing of the Sh20.9 billion fund by parameters indicate that Sh9.4 billion was shared based on population percentage weights and Sh4.2 billion of the total allocation was based on the poverty index of constituencies.

Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning Ms Anne Waiguru said population is an important parameter that reflects expenditure needs given that the cost of service depends on population size.

She explained to Parliament that the population share index was generated by taking the whole number of people in a constituency dividing it by the total population of the country.

She further said poverty is a major challenge to Kenyans in all constituencies.

Poverty estimates for the 290 constituencies were used in the allocation with the amount required to move the poor above the poverty level line being estimated based on the poverty gap for each constituency.

Some constituencies which have performed well in the past in managing the kitty were also rewarded through the share of fiscal discipline component.

The fiscal discipline parameter at 2 per cent is an inducement factor to reward constituencies that practice prudent management of the financial resources allocated from the kitty.

In the current allocation, however, all the 290 constituencies received the same amount of Sh1.439 million under this component.

Other components used in determining the allocation were share of land area which is a measure of the size of constituency and the basic equal share component considered to have an important equalizing effect in that all constituencies are treated equally regardless of their size or population.

Under the latter, each of the constituencies was allocated Sh 17.99 million.

The equal share component is 25 per cent of the total net allocation of CDF.

The total amount under this component in this year’s allocation was Sh5.2 billion divided equally among the 290 constituencies.