Migori Senator Eddy Oketch has opined that the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) is a poor financing structure due to the frail oversight of its utilization.
Senator Oketch believes that CDF funds should be managed by Governors rather than Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to improve project oversight.
“Talk about what is supposed to come to your constituency when the country is sharing different resources, not to go and seek for CDF,” Senator Oketch told MPs while speaking to Citizen TV on Thursday.
“After you have given the Executive the role to go and implement a number of development projects, check whether they are staying by the book of what you passed. How hard is this to understand?”
He believes that Governors, rather than MPs, should oversee the distribution of CDF funds to constituencies.
Oketch, on the other hand, argued that the problem with his proposal is a lack of transparency and corruption in County Governments, which he believes should be addressed as soon as possible.
He argued that MPs are vehemently opposed to the disbursement of funds to counties via Governors due to rampant fund embezzlement.
“We must also accept that County Governments are also corrupt and it does not become an issue of qualification that we must not give them more funds,” he noted.
“We must just harass the ghost of corruption in counties.”
This comes a day after the National Treasury released Ksh.7 billion to the NG-CDF board on Wednesday, following MPs’ concerns about delayed disbursements that have hampered constituency-level development activities.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi testified before the National Assembly, defending the government’s fiscal position and attributing the delays to liquidity constraints in the first quarter of the year.
He cited competing statutory obligations, including significant financial burdens such as a Ksh.10.6 billion loan repayment to China for the Standard Gauge Railway and other commitments totaling Ksh.75 billion. This was in addition to a salary wage bill of Ksh.80 billion.
He also mentioned other obligations, such as pressures from the Gen Z movement, which he claimed had strained the government’s fiscal headroom.
“It’s not that the Treasury is unwilling to honour the commitments I make in this House. It’s about balancing priorities,” he said.
He assured MPs that any delays in NG-CDF disbursements during his tenure were unintentional, but rather the result of intense pressure to meet critical obligations.
“At times, you have to balance between paying debts and supporting development. If debts are not paid, there will be no economy,” he added.
