Baringo Central Member of Parliament (MP) Joshua Kandie has urged his constituents to support an Amendment Bill which seeks to enshrine the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) into the Constitution.
Kandie made the call when he presided over the launch of Sh69.4 million bursaries’ distribution exercise at Kabarnet National Museum grounds on Tuesday.
He stated that the bill, which would come up for a countrywide public participation from May 5 to 7 of this year, is crucial in the realization of grassroots development.
The legislator argued that transferring some of the functions to county governments would be a major step backwards since it would dilute its impacts and ultimately kill the momentum of development at the constituency level.
“I am urging all of you to turn out on that day in large numbers for the public participation so that the message is home,” he said.
Kandie noted that parliamentarians have proved overtime that they were the best custodians of the funds hence should be protected at all costs to remain as a national initiative.
The MP mentioned his constituency which he said has been observing stipulated best practices like regularly holding public participation exercises from sub location level to identify the neediest children deserving bursaries as well as identification of key development projects within their area.
His sentiments were supported by Baringo Central Deputy County Commissioner Henry Tiya who revealed that he has personally attended some of the grassroots participation forums to have a feel of what is going on.
Tiya acknowledged that the constituency has the best model when it comes to bursary distribution because there are no complaints in identification of needy cases and the fact that the NG-CDF office respects decisions coming out of such exercises.
The bursary launch benefited a total of 7,854 students with secondary schools taking the lion share of Sh40.5 million while Sh 20.5 million went to tertiary institutions.
By Benson Kelio and Joshua Kibet
