Parliament has threatened to stop supplementary budget if the treasury refuses to release Constituency Development Fund (CDF-NG).
The legislatures, drawn from both sides of the House, threatened not to bulge after the national treasury refused to release CDF-NG for the period of three months now (since the new administration took over from the Jubilee government).
Both the Treasury and the office of the Attorney General (AG) have now been summoned to appear before the House committee on CDF-NG. The two powerful offices will be represented by Prof Njuguna Ndungu (Cabinet Secretary for Finance and national Planning), and Justice Muturi (Attorney General).
On their part, the AG and the Treasury have been insisting that CDF-NG is illegal – referring to supreme court decision which annulled CDF Act of 2013. But the legislatures however protested – saying that the CDF-NG Act of 2015 was not affected by the apex court’s decision – but rather, the CDF Act of 2013.
During a press briefing, the house Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi vowed to stop any legislation that would come before the House. However, the Ugunja Member of Parliament was quick to make it clear that they’d not be downing their tools. “There is no evidence that National Treasury have been served with court orders barring them from disbursing CDF-NG,” Wandayi said.
The Ugunja lawmaker added that the CS is taking the House in circles for no reason when the Supreme Court verdict never touched on the NG-CDF Act of 2015.
“I am not saying we shall go on strike but we can stop business until NG-CDF is disbursed,” he said.
Last week, speaker Moses Wetangula directed Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa to organize for an audience with the Treasury CS Njuguna Ndungu, so that the two could seek for a legal interpretation of the legality (or illegality) of the CDF-NG fund now.
Minority Whip Junet Muhammed weighed in to castigate the two offices of planning to stifle developments in constituencies by withholding the CDF-NG money. The Suna East Member of Parliament said that there was a conspiracy between the Executive and Judiciary to make Parliament ‘look useless’.
“Until the matter of CDF-NG is sorted, if need be, Parliament must down their tools. Supplementary budget is coming in a few weeks, I want to plead that we do not pass the supplementary budget,” he said.
