Gen Z should fight for retention of NG-CDF, says MP Machele

Mvita MP Mohamed Machele has criticised senators for their campaign against the National Government Constituency Development Fund.

Senators are pushing for the scrapping of the NG-CDF, saying it is being used as a front to swindle taxpayers’ money.

However, National Assembly members say the NG-CDF has been in existence far longer than devolution and its impact is far greater than what county governments have done.

On Saturday, Machele said it is surprising to see senators opposing the NG-CDF on the basis MPs are benefiting from it.

“I don’t know what you, the people, say. MPs are not part of the running of the NG-CDF. We were removed to have more transparency,” he said.

The lawmaker spoke at Ronald Ngala Primary School during the issuance of Sh20 million bursaries to 2,200 university and college students.

NG-CDF was first created in 2003 during former President Mwai Kibaki’s regime.

One of its mandates is to improve school infrastructure and support education of vulnerable persons.

Machele urged Kenyans to stand firm with their MPs in support of the NG-CDF, which he said has made life more bearable because of the impact it has had on the development of schools.

He said the fund has removed some of the burden of school fees for parents through the bursaries.

“NG-CDF is the only fund whose projects are visible. At the moment, all the ministries that want to do projects at the subcounty level, like the ICT ministry wants ICT hubs in constituencies, they channel their monies through the NG-CDF,” Machele said.

He said this is a vote of confidence in the NG-CDF.

“Monies for more classrooms for the Junior Secondary Schools is channelled through the NG-CDF,” the MP said.

He said through the NG-CDF, he will ensure Kenyan children go to school

“We must stand firm and ensure that instead of scrapping it, they add more money into the NG-CDF kitty,” Machele said.

He lauded the Gen Z for their efforts in ensuring Kenya gets back on track.

“We want development and social budget to be higher than the recurrent budget,” Machele said.

He said 1,982 students got bursaries worth Sh17 million in 2022-23.

In the 2023-24 financial year, 2,200 students got university and college bursaries worth Sh20 million.

“Our bursary is Sh70 million out of which Sh44 million was issued to 7,000 secondary school students,” Machele said.

Some 2,000 families got NHIF cover courtesy of the Mvita NG-CDF.

A year ago, 1,200 youths from across Mvita constituency registered for different short courses, out of which 500 said they wanted driving courses.

“I don’t announce which courses are being paid for because in many instances, parents push their children to do certain courses which the children do not want," Machele said.

“After payment of the requisite fees, the children then drop out of the courses eventually and the fees paid goes to waste in the end.” 

This financial year, we have taken the bulk of the bursaries to primary schools.

In Mvita, Machele said, there are no parcels of land to do major projects.

Many projects are done on land hived from primary schools, which eats into the schools’ playing grounds.

This was done for Mekatilili wa Menza secondary, Sheikh Abdalla Al Farsy secondary, Mvita Boys' high, Makande secondary and Makupa Primary School.

“That is why we decided we will not build more schools but upgrade the existing ones to better standards,” he said.

This financial year, however, Machele said, the Mvita NG-CDF will focus on building Grade 9 classrooms.

There are 16 secondary schools.

At the moment, assessment is being done to see how Ziwani and Bahari primary schools will be combined to form one school.

The two schools are adjacent to each other and share a wall.

He said in such a scenario, one school has more learners than the other, thus wasting the capitation for the school that has less learners.