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{
    "id": 1571689,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571689/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "South Mugirango, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Silvanus Osoro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "have two levels of governance – the devolved units and the national Government. It is important to note that even as we continue advocating for funds to flow through county governments, there are elements that remain within the national Government structure that are still critical to people in the villages and constituencies. With a well-regulated system, the impact of these funds is felt in those areas. These matters include education, security, and other services. Unfortunately, there is a misconception that NG-CDF is a fund managed by Members of Parliament. Far from it. Even under the current structure, Members of Parliament have no role in the sharing or operation of the NG-CDF. That is why it is called the National Government Constituency Development Fund. It is a Fund under the national Government, with an autonomous governance structure. We have the NG-CDF Board that undertakes approvals. We have the Constituency Fund Managers who are employed by the NG-CDF Board. We also have constituency committees that collect views from the common wananchi, where the role of Members of Parliament is extremely limited. It is strictly oversight, as provided for under Article 95 of the Constitution. That is all. What Members of Parliament do when they visit NG-CDF-funded projects in their constituencies is simply to exercise oversight. To assess whether the Fund is being utilised properly and whether the projects align with what the local committee proposed and what the Board approved. People have this misconception that Members of Parliament sit somewhere, access the accounts, allocate the money and make some changes. That is false. I often challenge people on this. If there is a fund that cannot be easily misused, it is the NG-CDF. It is time we replicated the NG-CDF model within county governments. NG-CDF disburses funds to the constituency with a clear vote structure. This percentage for bursaries, this percentage for infrastructure, and so on. Members of Parliament have no discretion over it. The idea that a Member of Parliament can wake up and decide to withdraw Ksh1 million from the NG-CDF account is simply not possible. It is not practical. You cannot do that. What we do is oversight. What we are now proposing is to entrench these funds in the Constitution so that the impact is safeguarded. When you compare the funds that come through the NG-CDF with those sent through other devolved units, the NG-CDF stands out. Its impact is visible. In the constituencies, you can point at a school built by the Fund, a school bus bought, students whose fees were paid and police posts constructed. I even saw one case in Nairobi, my former colleague in this House, who in the last Parliament built swimming pools in Nairobi schools through the NG-CDF. Those students have gone on to compete nationally and internationally because they were given that opportunity. That is why some failed weird quarters are viciously fighting so that the Fund does not get the common mwananchi because they know they have no ground against an empowered mwananchi . People tend to suppress others to use them for their ulterior motives. This Fund helps a lot when it comes to the public. It elevates educational standards. It is felt by"
}