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{
    "id": 1017992,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1017992/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 184,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Deputy Speaker, I was going to say that NG- CDF is not a political fund. There is a Member who said that a bit earlier and when you say that, you feed into the legal exercises that are taking place, and you can arm others who would want to do away with NG-CDF. It is not a political fund but a special fund that is meant to bring development to our area. It is a Fund that was introduced way back in 2002 or 2003 when Members realised that the national Government was not having impact in terms of development at the constituency level. That is why they came up with the NG-CDF which has had monumental impact in the constituencies, including mine. I can tell you that any constitutional amendment that is on the way through this House, BBI or any other channel that may want to take away NG-CDF or that does not give prominence to it, will likely have difficulties passing. I am encouraged to see that we have a County Development Fund Bill that is before us. In complete appreciation that unless we have funds that have been earmarked for development to the smallest unit in this country, there are areas that will never be developed and will continue suffering because the amount of money that is meant for development is always consumed through other areas of recurrent nature. That is what informed the Members back in 2002 to come up with NG-CDF. I think it is also important to note that only 6 per cent of the amount of money that has been sent to the constituency is allowed for recurrent expenditure. There is also 3 per cent for monitoring. However, a whole 91 per cent of the funds go towards development. This is a model that we need to take and pass on to the devolved funds. In fact, there are times I feel like we may want to chop off some money that is taken for devolution and put it in NG-CDF. It is also another way of devolving funds and development to the people. I know we are all happy about devolution but the happiness in devolution should come because it is impacting on the people in form of development. If it is not, we have to re-look at other channels or ways of bringing around development in our areas that are more effective. I am saying this as a challenge to county governments. We can see the impact NG-CDF is having. Why is it that we cannot see the same impact from county devolved funds yet they are receiving billions? This is just Ksh100 million and the impact is very massive. You cannot believe that a county will receive Ksh5 billion and you fail to see any amount of impact in your area. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I know that in that audit there was the issue of standardisation of classrooms and the rest. I want to caution the Committee. That is a very dangerous route to follow because factors that affect the cost of development vary from one area to the other. I think there The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}