Member of the County Assembly (MCAs) of Kiambu passed a motion by the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) petitioning the National assembly on the County Ward Equitable Development Fund (CWEDF).
The Motion was moved by Kabete MCA Hon. Grace Hinga who said the Constitution of Kenya recognises economic and social rights.
“These rights include the right to health care, adequate housing, food of acceptable quality, clean and safe water, appropriate social security to vulnerable groups and measures to be put in place to encourage affirmative action programmes and policies to address past inequalities,” she said.
Hon. Hinga added, “it has been accepted by the majority of Kenyans that the creation and implementation of County Wards Equitable Development Fund shall guarantee the fulfilment of the objectives of devolution.”
The MCA noted that the County government lacks a clear methodology of distributing development projects in the wards and efforts to create CWEDF has faced many hurdles including the annulment of various legislations passed by CAs.
She said that the inability by the Senate to pass national legislation on County Wards which was earlier labelled Ward Development Fund has hampered growth at the grassroots levels despite the advent of devolution in 2013.
“That’s why CAF has petitioned the National Assembly praying that CWEDF be incorporated in the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill amongst other proposed funds including the National Government Constituencies Fund NG-CDF) and National Governments affirmative Action Fund (NGAF).
“The aforementioned petition will advance the principle of equity and acceleration of development in our Counties,” she said.
While supporting the motion, Kijabe MCA Hon. Stephen Nyutu said that if the National Assembly fails to consider CWEDF, then the NG-CDF should also be considered null and void and MCAs shall not support the amendment.
“I have been victimised before by the Executive Arm of the County for simply asking about projects for my Ward. Therefore, we shall only support the NG-CDF if the MPs harken to anchor CWEDF in the proposed constitutional amendments,” said Hon. Nyutu.
Majority Whip, Hon. Nelson Munga (MCA, Ndeiya Ward) said there is no major difference in the role and mandate of Senators, Women Representatives and the MPs. He added the MCAs are more so under direct heat from the electorate yet they have nothing to take pride in terms of development.
“We therefore want to ask the National Assembly to set aside five percent of the National Budget for the ward fund. With this, MCAs will no longer beg for development ‘favours’ from the County Executive as the decentralization of resources will have been felt,” said Hon. Munga.
Hon Ruth Waithera (MCA, Githiga Ward) said, “for close to nine years now, our Wards are decorated with photos of our Governors. Roads have remained an outcry and nothing tangible can be attributed to devolution; we need the ward fund to actualise real development.”
Hon. Dominic Mbugua (MCA, Kinale Ward said, “I was nicknamed ‘Wamangunia’ because in many instances, I would assist my people to repair and build bridges with sand using sacks. At one time, we had to fundraise to complete construction of an ECDE classroom which had been left unfinished by a contractor.”
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