The Court of Appeal has restored the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) law, handing Members of Parliament a major win and overturning a 2024 High Court ruling that had declared the kitty unconstitutional.
In a judgment delivered in Nairobi on Friday, a three-judge bench set aside the High Court decision and held that the NG-CDF Act, 2015, does not violate the devolved system of governance or public finance principles.
The judges added that enactment of the Act did not require Senate concurrence or involvement of the Senators because the fund does not affect the functions and powers of counties.
The ruling is a major win for MPs, who have long defended NG-CDF as a practical vehicle for delivering national government projects in constituencies.
It is, however, a setback for governors and senators, whose challenge to the fund has repeatedly framed it as an encroachment on devolved functions and an erosion of the Senate’s role in revenue matters.
At the heart of the legal dispute is the Constitution 2010, which divided power and resources between national and county governments, giving the Senate a central role in guarding devolution.
The original Constituencies Development Fund law of 2013 was struck down by the courts for going against the devolved system. Parliament responded with the NG-CDF Act of 2015, later amended in 2022 and 2023, seeking to confine the fund to national government functions and to remove MPs from direct control of projects.
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