Fate of NG-CDF billions in hands of Senate after MPs approve Bill

Parliament has made an amendment to entrench the controversial National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) into the Constitution. 

The MPs did this in a second attempt to amend the 2010 Constitution, where two thirds of the members voted for the Constitutional of Kenya (Amendment Bill) 2025.  

The Bill sponsored by legislators Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi) and Otiende Amolo (Rarieda), seeks to amend the Constitution and entrench the NG-CDF kitty and further introduce a Senate Oversight Fund. It also seeks to embed the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) into law.

The Bill is now headed to the Senate where if given the nod, will birth Kenya’s first successful constitutional amendment after the Building Bridges initiative (BBI) under former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime, in 2021, flopped.

During the voting yesterday, 298 MPs unanimously voted to pass it through the third reading. Electronic voters accounted for 283, assisted voters 12 and virtual voters 3.

But even as the Bill now moves to the Senate, the development is set to spark a row between the two Houses given their ongoing supremacy wrangles over their management of public funds. Their most recent push and pull was over the amounts to be allocated to the Counties under the Division of Revenue Allocation (D.O.R.A). While the National Assembly sought to give Sh405 billion to counties, the Senators were pushing for a Sh465 billion allocation to the devolved units. Following a standoff, a mediation committee was formed and both parties agreed to an allocation Sh415 billion.

The two Houses have also been at loggerheads over administration of the Sh10 billion Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF). While the National Assembly has been administering the fund, Governors backed by Senators have been advocating for control over the same. Despite governors winning a court battle with MPs, the legislators appealed the decision.

And clearly aware of the expected opposition of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) 2025, MPs during the debate yesterday called on Senators to set aside their contestations and approve it, for the benefit of the people.

Leader of the Minority Junet Mohammed called on the legislators to support the Bill as it sought to change the lives of Kenyans. “This Bill is not about MP. It is about Kenyans. Any money that is devolved benefits people. I want to urge the Senate to support this Bill just like the way they support the (allocations) to counties because every single shilling supports the people of Kenya,” he said.

Leader of the Majority Kimani Ichung’wah said, “NGCDF is not in competition with our devolved funds and counties. If anything, NGCDF supplements what national government is doing and what counties are doing in  offering services to the people that all elect us.”

Amollo said should the Senate fail to pass the Bill, they (MPs) would embark on another attempt to change the constitution under popular initiative.

“If those other people think that they can curtail this because they are fighting the National Assembly, then we can still go the popular initiative route and will still achieve it because through public participation by over 230 entities and individuals 98. 3 percent supported it. We are quite sure that we can get it through the referendum,” he remarked.

The Bill advocates setting up of a kitty for senators, the Senate Oversight Fund, to be anchored in the supreme law of the land and which Chepkonga and Amolo argue will ensure that the Senate is adequately empowered and resourced to perform its oversight functions as stipulated in Article 96 of the Constitution.

“The Senate Oversight Fund shall be a national government fund consisting of monies appropriated from the national government’s share of revenue as divided by the annual Division of Revenue Act enacted pursuant to Article 218 of the Constitution,” further reads the Bill.

“The establishment of the National Government Affirmative Action Fund seeks to ensure that affirmative action groups including women, youth, persons with disabilities, vulnerable children and elderly persons have access to minimum financial facilities required for the promotion of enterprise development and provision of social development services at the constituency and county levels,” the Bill further states.

It also reads that the entrenchment of the NG-CDF Fund in the Constitution will ensure that the critical role the Fund currently plays in promoting the participation of the people in the identification and implementation of priority national government programmes is safeguarded, as well as ensuring reasonable access to such services in all parts of the Republic of Kenya, as envisaged in Article 6(3) of the Constitution.

Notably, the approval of the Bill comes against the backdrop of a court ruling declaring NG-CDF unconstitutional. A three-judge bench in September last year sounded the death knell for the NG-CDF kitty, noting that it had violated the separation of powers. Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Mugure Thande and Roselyne Aburili also cited failure by the National Assembly to consult the Senate as grounds for the kitty’s un-constitutionalism.

They said the fund and all its projects, programmes and activities shall cease to operate on June 30, 2026. They, however, noted that it was not in the interest of the nation or justice to bring it to an abrupt closure.