Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has defended the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), saying it is crucial for fair development across Kenya.
In a statement shared on his X account on Saturday, April 26, 2025, Kaluma stressed that the fund plays a vital role in ensuring resources from the national government are fairly distributed to every corner of the country.
He warned that some areas might be left behind without NG-CDF, just like in the past when certain regions benefited more than others.
“NG-CDF is the lifeblood of equitable development of the country from the National Government’s share of revenues. Touching NG-CDF is equal to allowing the National Government to do as it wills with national resources and leads to skewed resource allocation and application across Kenya,” the lawmaker stated.
Adding;
“We will fight for devolution as much as we also fight for decentralisation of national government resources to avoid inequities of the past. NG-CDF is here to stay.”
Kaluma’s remarks come as the country continues to debate the future of the NG-CDF. Over the years, the fund has been a lifeline for local development projects, especially in the education sector, helping build classrooms, support bursaries for needy students, and improve school facilities.
However, some political leaders and activists have criticised the fund, arguing that it is unconstitutional and has, in some cases, been misused. They believe that development funds should be handled by devolved units like county governments to improve transparency and accountability.
Kaluma takes on Muturi
Kaluma recently cautioned politicians who oppose the NG-CDF, warning that they risk alienating the majority of Kenyans who have directly benefited from it.
“You fight NG-CDF, you lose the support of 90% of Kenya’s population, whose schools have been built through the fund and whose education has been supported by this fund that takes only 2% of the national government’s share of revenue directly to the people,” Kaluma stated.
He stressed that NG-CDF has been instrumental in constructing schools and supporting students through bursaries, describing its impact as far greater than that of other government funding initiatives.
Addressing criticisms that lawmakers have been mismanaging the NG-CDF, Kaluma defended the fund, noting that MPS no longer have control over its distribution.
His comments were in response to former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi, who had called for the fund’s abolition.
“As you fight NG-CDF imagining you’re fighting MPs who no longer control it, remember that there are real people it has made; that 99% of the education infrastructure in Kenya is existent because of it; that, unlike other funds whose bulk is wasted, 94% of NG-CDF goes directly to schools to implement priorly quantified and approved projects,” Kaluma said.
He argued that dissolving the fund would not improve resource allocation, but instead, it would centralise money within government ministries, heightening the risk of mismanagement and inequitable distribution.
“NG-CDF is the only fund Kenyans will vote to support – the reason all efforts to change the Constitution seek to ride on it,” he added.
Muturi, who was recently dismissed from President William Ruto’s Cabinet, sparked debate after labelling the NG-CDF illegal. The former National Assembly Speaker criticised the fund as a vehicle for corruption.
“NG-CDF is a corrupt, illegal and unconstitutional slush fund to unjustly enrich the MPs, their families and cronies and should, therefore, be scrapped,” Muturi said on April 15, 2025.