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{
    "id": 1368727,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1368727/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity to speak on this important amendment Bill. Let me begin by paying tribute to Hon. Muriuki Karue, the initiator and the founder of the concept of Constituency Development Fund (CDF). Unfortunately, he was not even rewarded with a second term. He left an idea that will last for a very long time in the history of our country. It has impacted very positively on very many lives. We give honour and praise to him. The big contention has always been the role of Members of Parliament in the management of the NG-CDF. Now there is a lot of clarity that that role is limited to oversight. There was a lot of misunderstanding before then. If you look at many political systems, especially parliamentary ones, Members of Parliament do budget planning and exercise oversight within Parliament. For a long time, I think we did not understand properly how this Fund worked hence the unnecessary litigation in the past. Be that as it may, I want to highlight a few issues that I think we need to relook in the proposed amendment Bill. I am very happy that a component of the Fund can be used to support sporting activities in constituencies. There has always been a problem that cash rewards are not part of eligible expenditures under the NG-CDF. This demotivates the young men who engage in sporting activities. The Government has come up with something called Talanta Hela where you monetise talents. Giving uniforms is not as good as giving cash rewards. Some of these young people could use the money to buy school items or support themselves by paying fees. We need to relook this. We need to cap it or agree on a limited amount from the allocated 2 per cent. It should be given as cash rewards to young people in sporting activities. For environmental activities, I strongly suggest that we refocus this to target schools, especially measures to mitigate climate change by encouraging schools to plant fruit trees as part of school feeding programmes, and trees for commercial purposes in certain areas. That is to help finance other activities in schools rather than just leaving the idea for environmental programmes. Those environmental projects should be tied to schools and climate change mitigation measures. Thirdly, we need to strengthen local takeaways from NG-CDF projects by keeping as much money as possible within each constituency whether they are bursaries or contracts awarded by the NG-CDF projects. Retaining money within constituencies would be truly giving life to the spirit of devolution. I am very happy to note that this amendment finally will allow us to acquire machinery and equipment. This will be very important for road projects as well as creating sports fields. Many fields in schools need to be graded. We would save a lot of money if we could align this with the funding arrangements of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). Probably, much of the KeRRA funds would go to fuelling and then we would do more roads if constituencies could have their road maintenance equipment. This is a very positive development. We can get road-grading equipment for our constituencies. I also appeal that we relook at this Bill and agree to support faith-based learning institutions. Currently, there are many schools started by churches, even madrassas and other learning institutions, excluded from the support of the NG-CDF. We need to support them because they are very important. I see a very bright future for the NG-CDF. I hope one day it will be extended to give direct economic empowerment to the youth by even having a loan component for group activities. With those many remarks, right Hon. Temporary Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity."
}