Members of the National Assembly have threatened to censure Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u over his alleged failure to release National Government Constituency Development Funds (NG-CDF).
According to the MPs, the Treasury has failed to disburse the funds despite National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula stating that the funds would be released by December 20, 2023.
Speaking at Parliament grounds on Tuesday, the legislators led by Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo lamented that the exchequer’s reluctance to release the funds is putting the education of hundreds of thousands of students, who rely on the bursary to finance their schooling, at risk.
“No single cent has been dispersed in this respect with the consequence that pupils and students are stranded all over the country. CDF allocation should be Ksh.63 billion, we should have received at least 75% of the money by now which is around Ksh.43 billion, but to date we haven’t received anything despite some utterances that you may have heard elsewhere,” said MP Amollo.
While dismissing a government memo stating that NG-CDF money cannot be released due to proposed amendments to the NG-CDF Act, the Rarieda lawmaker said that the information was “misguided, unlawful, and improper.”
“We demand that the entire allocation the CDF must be released within 7 days as is due, if that is not done we will call for a special sitting of the House and draft an appropriate motion against the CS Treasury and the NG-CDF board or any other entity as we may determine at the time,” he said.
Kabuchai MP Majimbo Kalasinga, on his part, noted that the Treasury erred when it assured Speaker Wetangula that the money would be released by December 20, 2023.
“Why is money being dispersed to other government entities and yet NG-CDF that helps the vulnerable is not released? We don’t want stories, we want the money in our accounts today,” he stated.
By Mourice Seretta
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