Published on June 25, 2008, 12:00 am By Peter Opiyo
The Government released Sh7.6 billion to replenish the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) kitty and retain thousands of public secondary school students in class.
The Government apologised for the delay, attributing it to upheavals that followed the disputed December 27 General Election.
Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya issued a statement in Parliament on Tuesday, saying a further Sh2.4 billion would be released by Friday, breathing life to thousands of stalled projects.
The Standard on Monday exclusively reported the delayed disbursement of CDF cash and how it was adversely affecting over 500,000 students who were relying on the kitty for bursaries.
Besides the students, projects worth billions of shillings had also stalled or remained as proposals for lack of money to kick-start implementation.
The disbursement of the CDF kitty had been expected since February to fund education, health, water and other projects.
MPs, especially the first-timers, were eager to roll out development plans and anxiety was high as the current financial year closes in five days.
Only Sh2.5 billion had been released for the financial year 2007/8.
Allocations increased
Oparanya explained all Government operations had been delayed by three months.
"The delay in releasing the fund for the 2007/08 financial year was occasioned by post-election crisis, which slowed down Government operations for three months," said Oparanya.
The delays in formation of the Government and appointment of the minister in charge of the Sh10 billion kitty he added, also contributed.
Part of the delay was also due to amendment of the CDF Act 2003. Parliament last September amended the Act, replacing the CDF management committee with the CDF board.
The 17-member board is charged with overseeing the operations of CDF in the 210 constituencies. Parliament only endorsed the names in March and the board started work in April.
"The work of the board was delayed until April when I was appointed the Minister for Planning," said Oparanya.
Oparanya said 37 constituencies got 50 per cent of the Sh7.6 billion released. He said while 43 have did not get any disbursement, 34 constituencies had submitted their project proposals to the board.
He regretted that nine constituencies would not benefit since they have not submitted their proposals. A further four have not requisitioned for the money.
He reminded the affected constituencies to submit requisition forms for the board to approve transfer of the money.
The minister further said he had recruited 100 district development officers (DDOs) to oversee implementation of projects in the constituencies.
Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo (ODM), however, took issue with the DDOs, whom he accused of creating bottlenecks instead of facilitating operations. He said their roles were conflicting with the constituency committees.
Oparanya said they would continue acting as accounting officers and discharging their roles as outlined in the CDF Act.
Isiolo South MP Abdul Bahari (Kanu) called on the minister to further amend the Act to allow continuity in CDF management.
Several MPs had expressed concern that they were unwilling to continue with stalled projects that were initiated by their predecessors.
The Select Committee Chairman and Turkana Central MP Ekwe Ethuro (PNU) criticised the minister for the delay, saying Treasury should be releasing Funds after every three months.
For efficiency in the Fund’s management, Oparanya said the constituency CDF offices would be computerised and linked to the Fund’s headquarters in Nairobi. The board would undertake this to facilitate service delivery.
The CDF annual allocation is set in the CDF Act at 2.5 per cent of the Government’s ordinary revenue.
Finance Minister Amos Kimunya on Budget Day allocated a whopping Sh10.1 billion as CDF kitty for the current financial year 2008/2009.
This was an increase from the Sh7.5 billion allocated to the same kitty in the 2007/2008 financial year.
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