CDF: All Wrong

In 2003, the Kenyan goverment established the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), which takes 2.5% of total annual revenue and redirects it to each of Kenya's 210 constituencies. Apparently this has added up to KES 100m per constituency.

(Technicalities seem to have held up the use of this money in Halako's home constituency of Galole, which the Nation notes "is one of the few constituencies that have not had electricity or a tarmac road since independence.")

There are a number of reasons why this whole system is chaotic. Chief among them is that it means the Kenyan Government is handing over all of this money to one person to use this money as s/he feels fit.

There are three fundamental flaws to this set-up:

1) The only real check as to whether MPs are appropriately allocating funds is an election; this means the MP has major incentives to favor certain populations and ignore others.

2) The allocations are done without a larger sense of planning. Build a road here, pay these students' school fees, plant some trees there. But how will these funds be most effectively used over the next five years to truly bring development to the constituency? No answer. The focus is, of course, on short-term political gains.

3) MPs are supposed to be MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. They shouldn't be carrying millions of shillings back to their district and trying to figure out how best to allocate those monies for all of the constituencies many needs. That should be done by other institutions! How about democractizing government on the local levels (mayors, council members) and let them figure out how best to use this money.