The High Court has declared as unconstitutional the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act 2015.
Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Mugure Thande, and Roselyne Aburili said the fund and all its projects, programmes, and activities shall cease to operate on June 30, 2026.
The fund has been in operation since 2003. The bench said the value of its programmes to the local communities across 290 constituencies can't be gainsaid.
"We are also alive to the fact that there are short, medium and long-term projects being implemented by the fund. We are now in the middle of the financial year, and funds may have been allocated for ongoing projects," the bench said.
Despite their finding that the 2015 Act as last amended in 20o3 is unconstitutional, the judges said it will not be in the interest of the nation or justice to bring it to an abrupt closure.
For this reason, the judges said the act and its programmes shall cease to operate at the stroke of midnight on June 30, 2026.
Activist Wanjiru Gikonyo challenged the fund, which was formed after the old CDF Act was quashed by the High Court.
He wanted the court to declare NGCDF unconstitutional on the grounds that it creates a third layer of governance that is not in the Constitution.
Gikonyo said the NGCDF Act is unconstitutional in so far as it violates the principles of separation of powers.
According to the petitioners, the involvement of the Members of the National Assembly in the NGCDF was harmful to the doctrine of separation of powers as it affected the powers of the executive as well as those of the Public Service Commission.
The petitioners also pointed to the violation of the division of functions between the national and county governments, noting that the NGCDF Act had provisions that encroached on county governments’ functions.
The petitioners then attacked the NGCDF Act for having been enacted without the involvement of the Senate.
However, Members of Parliament led by Eldama Ravine’s Moses Lessonet had argued that the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) is nationwide and benefits a lot of people, especially those at the grassroots level.
They further argued that should the kitty be scrapped, the socio-economic rights of wananchi would be violated.
