Members of Parliament are working on a bill to entrench the fund in the constitution, but opponents of the fund maintain that the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter may have put it to rest with finality.
The legislators have threatened to down tools but the fund’s opponents remain unimpressed.
Lawyers who represented the successful petitioners against the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) say the National Assembly’s bid to re-introduce the fund is doomed to fail.
Members of Parliament are working on a bill to entrench the fund in the constitution, but opponents of the fund maintain that the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter may have put it to rest with finality.
“It is going to flop miserably on all floors. It is an exercise in futility and a wild goose chase to try to bring back CDF,” says Lawyer Lempaa Suyianka, who was part of a team of advocates who opposed CDF in court when it was declared unconstitutional.
MPs in the 13th parliament were denied a fund that had proven to be an important grassroots resource, and are now seeking constitutional change to bring back CDF.
“Maybe the god they are praying to is the god of the rich and one for the poor is different. You cannot amend the constitution through a parliamentary process on this one,” Suyianka adds.
MPs are lamenting over the rising incidences of school dropouts due to the failure to release CDF funds since July this year. The fund was meant to supplement national government functions.
“In my constituency now they have reported alot of dropouts for lack of school fees, if this continues as is now it is a big crisis,” says Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba.
The legislators have threatened to down tools but the fund’s opponents remain unimpressed.
“We are not saying mps will strike, but we will not process business of the house until funds are released,” Milemba adds.
“We are telling you, come baby come, go ahead and undermine the constitution that put you there..endeni maandamano endeni,” Suyianka says.
Mps not only want the fund back but they also want to double it from Ksh.103 million minimum per constituency to more than Ksh.200 million per constituency.
“We want by end February or early march we have CDF in the law,” says Matungulu MP Stephen Mule.
New Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u is caught in the middle of the battle between the two groups, one pushing for the release of funds declared unconstitutional by the court, the other demanding full implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“We are telling Prof Njuguna Ndung’u to just follow the law. Tell MPs to go and read the constitution,” Suyianka says.
“We are not making empty threats especially to finance CS Ndung’u release the money by the time we get to recess,” Omboko says.
