NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 – Kenyans are being urged to play an active role in ensuring that Constituency Development Funds (CDF) are properly utilised.
The coordinator of the National Tax Association (NTA) Michael Otieno said on Tuesday that there was need for everyone to take their leaders to task over the use and management of the monies.
He stated that doing this would ensure that CDF cash is not only properly utilized, but well accounted for.
“All of us pay tax and it is our responsibility to ensure that our taxes are utilised appropriately,” he said. “There seems to be no difference, in fact, the situation is a little worse than last year and the risk that comes to that is that a lot more tax payers money is being lost.”
He said there was need for education programmes to be carried out to sensitise the public on tax collection so as to keep track on its utilisation.
The NTA released a report that revealed that about Sh443 million of Constituency Development Funds had been lost as a result of mismanagement and poor records.
“Last year we were talking about Sh276 million that was lost,” Mr Otieno explained and added: “This year, we are talking about an additional Sh167 million that was lost. This figure is quite astronomical,” he added.
The money was mainly lost in wasteful spending of the CDF a devolved programme that is under the control of MPs and is meant to support infrastructure development at the grassroots.
The NTA arrived at the verdict after it audited the accounts of 34 constituencies and five local authorities.
The CDF was created in 2003 to fight poverty at the constituency level through community-based projects and to bridge imbalances in regional development brought about by partisan disbursement of public funds since independence.
The Treasury initially released Sh1.26 billion for CDF but the amount has gradually risen to Sh18 billion in the current financial year attracting the attention of civil society groups.
“This audit enables voters in 34 constituencies and five local authorities to know how their funds have been used,” said Mr Otieno..
The survey unravels the continued misuse of taxpayers’ money despite the financial difficulties facing the government that has had to deal with a number of emergencies in a sluggish economy.
Revelations of misuse of public funds come at a time when the government has put in place austerity measures such as the withdrawal of fuel guzzlers from its fleet to reduce expenditure and redirect money to essential areas.
The NTA questions the manner in which devolved funds are managed, faulting the central government for failing to put in place the necessary structures to prevent pilferage.
It found that in some constituencies, CDF money has been used to finance non-existent projects, while in other cases construction work was started and abandoned half way after money was squandered.
