A section of leaders and residents in Kiambu County have decried unfair allocation of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF).
The leaders, led by Juja MP George Koimburi, said that the county’s highly populated constituencies have been receiving a meager share adding that it had led to insufficient bursary allocation to area students, who mostly hail from poor backgrounds.
He said that students have been receiving peanuts in form of education aid from the government, a move that has significantly affected their performance as they are often sent home to collect school fees.
Speaking when he distributed Ksh23 million worth of bursary cheques to students studying in boarding schools, the MP called on legislators to back the proposals brought in parliament to have the one-man one-shilling formula implemented or facilitate renaming of populous constituencies as Super Constituencies.
“It’s saddening that we are giving our students as low as Ksh2,000 while our colleagues from other regions are even giving their students full scholarships. We want equity in resource allocation which should be based on the population and not land mass,” he said.
The lawmaker who lobbied for support from fellow parliamentarians when the bill is taken to Parliament, said that the Government should consider increasing the allocation to populous constituencies even as they seek to have the boundaries reviewed for creation of more constituencies.
He noted that some of the constituencies such as Thika, Ruiru, Juja, Kasarani, Mwea among others are overpopulated and the MPs are having a hard time in serving them with the meager resources they are receiving.
Ruiru is currently the most populated constituency with a population of close to 700,000 residents.
His sentiments were echoed by residents who decried having received very little to support their children in school.
“We are glad for the cheques we have received today but still the money is not enough and we are sure our children will be sent home for more. We don’t want our children’s studies to be interrupted and that’s why we are calling on the government to hear our prayers and increase the funds to relieve us of the burden of hefty school fees,” said resident Nelson Kung’u.
Murera Ward MCA Ngatha Wambiri, who also joined the locals’ call, said the Kiambu County Assembly had passed the supplementary budget that allocated Ksh100 million more for bursaries and which he said will help fill the gaps left by the NGCDF kitty.
“We are also in the process of issuing bursary cheques to our people having passed the supplementary budget. However, the revenue sharing formula remains a key aspect in increasing allocation of resources to our region and this will be a shot-in-the-arm for thousands of parents who struggle to facilitate their children’s education,” Wambiri said.
By Kamau Njoroge
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