Women’s Representatives are pushing for allocation of more funds to their county kitty to enable them better execute their mandate.
Currently, the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (Ngaaf) managed by Women’s Reps receive Sh4 billion from the exchequer want it adjusted to Sh10 billion.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Nairobi yesterday, Ngaaf chairperson Sophia Abdi Noor urged the State to consider increasing the amount to the aforementioned.
Caucus 47 chairperson Priscilla Nyokabi reiterated her sentiments saying funds Ngaaf receives in little in contrast to The Constituency Development Fund which other legislators get.
“We get Sh4 billion but going forward we need to have more funds…the demand is growing, the challenges in the counties are growing,” she said.
Women’s Reps get Sh7 million per every constituency in their county to spur development.
Gender and Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Mwanamaka Mabruki said the government is committed to the affirmative action to support women, the youth and persons with disability.
MPs share out over Sh25 billion 20 per cent more what women reps get.
Last month, Parliament was fighting to have the government increase the annual CDF allocation from the current Sh25 billion to Sh35 billion.
Parliamentary committee on CDF Chairman Moses Lessonet said the problems that resulted in the reduction of the allocation by Sh10 billion have been fixed.
The reduction resulted from a court ruling by Justice Mumbi Ngugi after an NGO last year filed a suit seeking to have the kitty declared unconstitutional.
“The court ruled that we can only get a maximum of Sh25 billion, but we’ve dealt with the issues that led to the reduction, which emanated from the Division of Revenue Bill,” said Lessonet.
CDF kitty received Sh31 billion in 2014 and Sh33 billion in 2015, but the court ruling ensured every constituency got an equal allocation of Sh81,896,551 million, a reduction from the Sh120 million they were to get.