UHURU AND CDF MONEY

Members of Parliament are accusing Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta of slashing Sh900 million from the Constituency Development Fund kitty. According to the claim by MPs, which Parliament’s own committee on CDF will discuss within the week, each constituency would miss out on at least Sh4 million. This is based on the assumption the balance would be shared out equally among Kenya’s 210 constituencies. According to the Constituencies Development Fund Act (2003), at least 2.5 per cent of the Government’s ordinary revenue is supposed to be allocated to the kitty. The Act says: "an amount of money equal to not less than 2.5 per cent (two and-a-half per centum) of all the Government ordinary revenue collected in every financial year should be allocated to the kitty." This year’s budget has projected ordinary revenue collection of Sh609 billion and legally, Sh15.2 billion should have gone to the CDF, but Uhuru only gave it Sh14.3 billion. The shortfall of Sh900 million means every constituency will have been denied at least Sh4 million. Ordinary revenue Experts say the allocation did not meet the threshold required by the Act. But it also turns out that since establishment of CDF, the kitty has never received the full allocation of 2.5 per cent of ordinary revenue. Since its inception in 2003, allocations to CDF have never matched the wishes of MPs who sometimes demand a higher percentage of the national revenue. In the budget for the financial year 2009/2010, which ends on June 30, the kitty was allocated Sh12 billion instead of Sh13 billion. The estimated revenue for the previous Financial Year was Sh522.8 billion. In the previous Financial Year of 2008/2009, CDF was allocated Sh10.1 billion instead of Sh11.6 billion, which would have been 2.5 per cent of the ordinary revenue of Sh467.9 billion. Uhuru is now under fire from MPs who plan to take him to task for slashing close to the Sh1 billion from the constituency funds.