NGOs to contest new CDF law

Sign showing a CDF-funded project in Ndia Constituency in this picture taken on September 23, 2014. FILE PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |

What you need to know:

  • The Council of Governors has also asked to be enjoined in the suit saying they are too not happy with the new law as it causes confusion and duplication of roles.
  • MPs passed the NGCDF Act last year repealing the CDF Act and made it a new organ of the national government after the court ruled only counties were mandated to undertake development.

A group of NGOs will on Wednesday file a case challenging the legality of a new law on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), saying it is unconstitutional.

The High Court had last year ruled that the CDF was not in line with the Constitution and gave the National Assembly 12 months to align it with the supreme law.

But the NGOs that filed the first case say the issues they had raised were not been addressed in the new National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) Act.

“MPs seem to have glossed over issues raised in the first suit and that is why we will be going to court to call for [the] scrapping of NGCDF as it creates a third level of government not contemplated in the Constitution,” said Wilfred Nderitu, a lawyer for The Institute of Social Accountability (Tisa).

The Council of Governors has also asked to be enjoined in the suit, saying they are also not happy with the new law as it causes confusion and duplication of roles.

MPs passed the NGCDF Act last year and made it a new organ of the national government after the court ruled only counties were mandated to undertake development at the local level.

The Katiba Institute, one of the organisations that filed the case last year, said the new law still violates the Constitution as it gives MPs a role in implementing development outside their legislative, oversight and representative mandate.

“MPs still have a role in the running of CDF through the Parliamentary Committee on CDF and also have a say on people appointed to manage the NGCDF funds at the constituency level,” said lawyer Waikwa Wanyoike.

In their petition, the NGOs will be arguing that there are only two levels of government and that devolved funds are supposed to flow from the national government to counties.

The officials were speaking at a media briefing at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday.

Should the High Court rule that the new kitty be scrapped, it would be a second blow for MPs, who have fought to retain it because they get political mileage from dishing out CDF bursaries and projects to their constituents.