National Assembly Clears First Hurdle in Bid to Amend Constitution, secure NG-CDF » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 1 – A second attempt by Members of Parliament to amend the constitution has sailed through the first hurdle after the National Assembly successfully passed the Constitutional Amendment bill 2025 after garnering the two-thirds threshold.

The proposed amendment seeks to formally entrench three critical public development funds in the Constitution: the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), the Senate Oversight Fund, and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).

To amend the Constitution through a parliamentary initiative, the bill must be supported by at least two-thirds of all members of each House, both in the National Assembly and the Senate before it can be enacted.

During the third reading stage, which is the final step before the bill proceeds to the Senate for concurrence, a total of 298 MPs voted in person, while three participated virtually as they were indisposed.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula had granted special permission to four ailing members Clement Sloya (Sabatia), Joseph Samal (Isiolo North), Abraham Kirwa (Mosop), and Catherine Wambilianga (Bungoma County Woman Representative) to cast their votes remotely from their respective hospital beds or resting locations.

However, Wambilianga’s vote was ultimately deemed lost after she failed to respond during the voting session.

The bill had earlier passed the second reading stage with overwhelming support. During that stage, 304 Members of Parliament voted unanimously to back the legislative proposal co-sponsored by Ainamoi MP Samuel Chepkonga and Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo.

Amollo while moving the bill asserted that the legislative proposal has received overwhelming support from the public and the event the bill fails to sail through the Senate due to competing interest between both houses, it will be subjected to popular initiative.

“If those other people think that you can curtail this because you are fighting the national assembly then we can still go through the popular initiative and we can still achieve it because through public participation by over 230,000 entities and individuals over 98.3 percent supported it,” he stated.

The Rarieda MP further argued that the bill directly addresses constitutional concerns raised by the Supreme Court when it declared the NG-CDF unconstitutional in a previous ruling. He maintained that the proposed amendments are aligned with the Constitution’s principles on devolution and decentralization.

“Since moving the Bill, there’s been overwhelming support from the members. And it’s important that the members have been able to explain that this Bill is in consonance with Constitutional principles, especially the distinction between the devolution and decentralization,”

“The members have been able to disabuse those who think these monies are in competition with devolution because we have been able to explain that this is extracted from the National Government share of revenue,” the Rarieda MP said.

Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah supported the constitutional amendment dismissing assertions that the bill is aimed at competing with other devolved funds,

“NG-CDF is not in competition at all with our devolved funds and the county governments. If anything, NG-CDF supplements what the National Government and county government are doing in offering services to the people that elected us,” he stated.

Legislative proposal

The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2025 key proposals is to rename the NG-CDF to the National Government Constituencies Decentralized Fund, a move aimed at shielding the fund from future legal challenges and securing its role in grassroots development.

According to the bill, the entrenchment of the fund in the Constitution will safeguard its role in ensuring public participation in identifying and implementing priority government programmes, in line with Article 6(3) of the Constitution, which speaks to equitable service delivery across the Republic.

Additionally, the bill proposes the establishment of a constitutionally anchored Senate Oversight Fund, which would empower the Senate to effectively carry out its mandate of overseeing the use of national revenue allocated to county governments, as provided under Article 96.

“The Senate Oversight Fund shall be a national government fund consisting of monies appropriated from the national government’s share of revenue as divided by the annual Division of Revenue Act enacted pursuant to Article 218 of the Constitution,” reads the proposal.

The bill also seeks to entrench the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), a kitty administered by County Woman Representatives.

The fund aims to provide financial support to marginalized and vulnerable groups among them women, youth, persons with disabilities, elderly persons, and vulnerable children for social and enterprise development services at both constituency and county levels.

“The establishment of the National Government Affirmative Action Fund seeks to ensure that affirmative action groups including women, youth, persons with disabilities, vulnerable children and elderly persons have access to minimum financial facilities required for the promotion of enterprise development and provision of social development services at the constituency and county levels,” the Bill further states.