Written By: Irene Muchuma

Posted: Tue, Apr 06, 2010

Nearly half a billion shillings belonging to the Constituency Development Funds has gone missing in 17 constituencies and 5 other local authorities during the 2007-2008 financial year.

The National Taxpayers Association chairman Michael Otieno attributes the loss to flouted procurement processes.

Mathira constituency is listed as the worst case with 84 percent of allocated resources wasted, misused or unaccounted for.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year 300 million shillings went missing under the constituency development fund with the increased loopholes leading to more than a triple loss of the funds in the current financial year.

The taxpayers association puts the blame squarely on the managers of the funds and urges the parliamentary audit select committee to take action on the culprits noting that most of the funds were embezzled.

The top ten constituencies in funds wastage are Mathira, Kamukunji , Embakasi, Ganze, Makadara, Aldai, Bondo, Kangema, Mumias and Bahari.

Nairobi City Council topped the list of the most corrupt local authorities wasting 64 percent of the total Local Authority Transfer Funds allocated.

The association is now calling upon citizens to be more vigilant on the use and management of CDF and report suspected cases of misuse of funds.