Five years ago, I was a very proud Kenyan as I sat listening to Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and other scores of African leaders pour praise on Kenya; not because Dr. Alfred Mutua, the Government spokesman had finally converted me to the doctrine of Najivunia kuwa Mkenya.
They were not heaping praises on Kenya because our country had sent anybody to the moon or had become the first African country to possess nuclear power. They talked fondly of Kenya for having brought to the attention of the continent that two simple things could be achieved by Africans themselves if there was the will to do so.
They cited Kenya’s National Budget that was funded 95% from domestic resources, something most African countries could not believe was possible in a continent that was still boasting the highest number of the poorest nations on earth not to mention the fact that horrid pictures of poverty and death through starvation had become synonymous with the image of Africa.
Their disbelief was justified when you recalled that most of the states in Africa were permanent begging entities of the World Bank and IMF.
This was the one lesson that Africa was anxious to learn from Kenya.
Eight years down the line, gory tales are coming out of nearly 80% of all constituencies as they attest to gross mismanagement, theft, fraud and sheer shameless misuse and misappropriation of this public fund.
Some MPs, knowing the level of ignorance, poverty and helplessness in their constituencies have for all practical purposes made their cronies believe that this constituency fund is their money given to them by the government to use as they see fit. In the end, these MPs have formed all sorts of companies using their cronies, relatives, friends, wives and even girl-friends to defraud the public of this fund.
Today, it is normal to hear that some of these funds are building lodges, brothels and night clubs in neighboring Southern Sudan. Harambees called by ordinary people have seen some sitting local MPs writing personal cheques as their contributions only to swap them with CDF cheques — a clear theft of public funds to gain popularity with the electorate.
More painfully, myopic and visionless MPs have sought to punish clans perceived to be opposed to their leadership. Such clans have been ostracized by the MPs and punished for their lack of support in elections. As such they have been excluded from all development projects as punishment for their political leanings. Schools, roads, health centers, bursary funds and any form of funding from the government have been diverted to clans more amenable to the sitting MP.
The saga of CDF does not end there. In other constituencies, area MPs are so incompetent that they are unable to secure the release of funds from the treasury due to their inability to identify viable projects and write project proposals for funds to be released!
Sad to say but it is difficult to believe that in this day and age, Kenyans from any part of the country can still elect a Member of Parliament who cannot write a proposal for CDF projects in his constituency.
As Africa emulates Kenya’s CDF initiative in the continent, here we are busy soiling it with our endless greed and selfishness! It’s time the citizenry become more vigilant even as we implement new devolved governance structures to detect any looting from the funds by the honorable thugs. You never know, it’s only the trees in the forest that may change in the coming general elections, and yet the very same monkeys will be the ones inhabiting the forests!
Dr. Aggrey Willis Otieno 