The God Sent CDF (Constituency Development Funds) in Kenya

The CDF development system came into existence in 2003 when it was implemented by an act of parliament. Ever since this time, more and more people have been ripping its benefits. The current budgetary allocation of these funds is about 110 million US dollars a year and with 210 constituencies in Kenya, each of them gets 524,000 US dollars annually. The impact of these funds has been magical and will be increased in the next budget.

You may think that this is not a lot of money after it is distributed to all the constituencies but the amazing changes that it has brought to the community has been phenomenal. The major achievement of CDF funds is the amount of individually owned enterprises that it has created. These funds can be loaned out to individuals as short term loans upon the approval of the care taker committee. If you make or loose money as a result of your business you will still have to repay the money that you borrowed and under the stipulated conditions. In this method of borrowing, only small amounts of money can be borrowed by an individual or group of people in that constituency, this is meant to reduce the risks involved.

The amount of educated citizens is increasing. Schools are being built through funding by the CDF resources. Each of the schools that have been built by the aid of CDF funds are properly equipped in terms of teachers and facilities. This has increased the quality of education and aided free primary education in all constituencies. People who could not join higher institutions of learning because of financial difficulties are now able to get an education through loans that they repay after they can generate an income for themselves.