Katiba lobby group director Yash Pal Ghai supports court ruling on CDF Act
Katiba Institute Director and United Nations Special Rapporteur Yash Pal Ghai speaks during a past event. He has sued the Judicial Service Commission for failing to make public the reasons some applicants for top Judiciary jobs were not shortlisted. FILE PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Director Yash Pal Ghai said that members of Parliament were overstepping their roles by insisting on managing the funds.
- He insisted that the CDF should be stopped because there was so much corruption.
- He advised that the funds previously channelled through CDF be returned to the Treasury and be distributed to National and county governments.
- MPs from both Jubilee and Cord have since joined forces and vowed to appeal the High Court ruling.
A lobby group has supported the High Court ruling that declared the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act unconstitutional.
Katiba Institute Director Yash Pal Ghai said that members of Parliament were overstepping their roles by insisting on managing the funds yet majority of them have been involved in mismanagement of the funds.
“Our primary objective is to help in the implementation of the Constitution and promote respect for it.
“CDF is unconstitutional because the parliamentarians’ job is to make laws that deal with the budget and other things and not to actually go and start building schools and roads. That is a function of the executive,” said Prof Ghai.
He added: “MPs are in a way trespassing in the role of the county governments because many of the projects they say they are supporting with the funds are constitutionally the powers and roles of the county governments.
The channelled should be stopped because there is also so much corruption.”
His remarks come after a three-judge bench of the High Court declared the CDF Act unconstitutional but gave the government 12 months to make necessary amendments or risk having it completely nullified.
NO COORDINATION BETWEEN MPS, GOVERNORS
Prof Ghai said that because there was no coordination between MPs and governors in their work, there was also unnecessary duplication and competition of duties happening at the grassroots level.
He advised that the funds that were previously channelled through the CDF be instead returned to the Treasury and be distributed to National and county governments for their various functions.
He was speaking during an advocate’s workshop on contemporary issues at the Sai Rock Hotel in Mombasa on Tuesday February 25, 2015.
The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) through its chair Charles Nyachae has also backed the court ruling on the CDF Act.
MPs from both Jubilee and Cord have since joined forces and vowed to appeal the High Court ruling.
