The National Assembly has kicked off the process of amending the Constitution of Kenya to entrench the National Government Constituencies Fund (NG–CDF), the Senate Oversight Fund, and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) into law following the standoff over the funds.
In accordance with the same, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Samuel Njoroge, on Monday published in the local dailies a notice of public participation exercises for the input of Kenyans on the proposed amendments.
The proposed amendments under the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 4 of 2025) have been sponsored by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkong’a and his Rarieda counterpart Otiende Amollo.
The public participation will embark on the collection of opinions and input from experts from May 5 to 7 across all 290 constituencies of Kenya.
''The Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs has, in addition to receiving written memoranda and consulting relevant stakeholders and experts on technical subjects, resolved to hold public hearings on Monday, 5th May 2025, Tuesday, 6th May 2025 and Wednesday 7th May, 2025 from 8am to 5pm across the country coordinated from the 47 Counties,'' the notice read in part.
The inclusion of the NG CDF into the Constitution has been a subject of legal tussles after the High Court declared it unlawful in 2024.
In September last year, High Court judges Kanyi Kimondo and Roselyn Aburili sounded the alarm for the 20-year-old kitty by declaring it unconstitutional.
However, later, MPs issued a statement on September 22, communicating their resolve to challenge the ruling, whose ripple effect would be them not accessing the billions allocated to the fund from June 30 this year.
In a statement released after the ruling, the National Assembly stated that a legal team representing it had requested a copy of the judgment and court proceedings to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.
''In the appeal, the National Assembly intends to challenge all the findings of the court about the constitutionality of the NG-CDF Act 2015,'' read the statement in part.
On April 15, former Public Service Cabinet Secretary and Attorney General Justin Muturi launched yet another scathing attack on the government over the constitutionality of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).
In a thinly veiled statement released by the former government insider, he asserted that it was unlawful for the government to continue the programme despite the courts declaring it unlawful.
''NG-CDF is a corrupt, unlawful and unconstitutional slush fund to unjustly enrich the MPs, their families and cronies and should, therefore, be scrapped,'' Muturi stated.
The Senate Oversight Fund aims to ensure the Senate is sufficiently empowered and resourced to carry out its oversight role, while the National Government Affirmative Action Fund seeks to strengthen the national government's efforts on affirmative action.
