NG-CDF Committee Meets Hon Gathoni Wamuchomba Over Proposed Changes in Sharing of the Kitty

The National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) Committee has met Githunguri MP Hon. Gathoni Wamuchomba regarding her legislative proposal dubbed the NG-CDF (Amendment) Bill 2023.

The Committee Chaired by Eldama Ravine MP, Hon. Musa Sirma sought to know from the legislator the implications of the Proposal, and to offer additional input before drafting a Report that precedes the publication stage.

In the Legislative Proposal, Hon. Wamuchomba argues that Constituencies with huge populations are disadvantaged by the current allocation formular which lays more focus on the number of wards in the constituency irrespective of the individual needs based on the population index.

The fund has an annual budgetary allocation totaling at least 2.5% of the National Government’s share of revenues. Of this, 75% is shared equally among all the 290 constituencies, with the remaining 25% being distributed on the basis of the number of wards in each constituency.

According to Wamuchomba, densely populated Constituencies; especially those in cosmopolitan areas with massive influx of non-residents are constrained in funding of critical NG-CDF functions such education bursaries.

The MP requested the Committee to introduce further amendments to the proposal to fix all other existing disparities in order to realise a more equitable distribution of the kitty, which may not be captured in the proposal.

“The Committee may propose other parameters for inclusion in the formula in allocation of funds to constituencies such asinfrastructure, land size and poverty index,” suggested Hon. Wamuchomba.

Hon Sirma noted the urgency and necessity of the legislative proposal to be published as a Bill, indicating that the Committee would share further amendments to enhance it.

“We shall meet this Thursday to draft a Report on this. I must admit that this is a very impressive legislative proposal which raises very critical issues,” said Hon. Sirma.

If approved by the Committee, the legislative proposal, alongside any other amendments from the Hon. Sirma led team will be published as a Bill, and subjected to all the subsequent legislative processes.