A three-judge bench has declared the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act 2015 unconstitutional because it violates the principle of separation of powers.
Justices Kanyi Kimondo, Mugure Thande, and Roselyne Aburili declared the Act unconstitutional on Friday, citing the National Assembly's failure to consult the Senate when it was enacted.
The trio said the fund and all its projects, programs, and activities shall cease to operate on June 30, 2026.
Further, te high court judges said it will not be in the interest of the nation or justice to bring it to an abrupt closure.
Justice Thande, deviating on the question of when to end NG-CDF operation, settled on its closure at the end of the financial year.
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“We are also alive to the fact that there are short, medium and long-term projects being implemented by the fund. We are now in the middle of the financial year, and funds may have been allocated for ongoing projects,” the bench said.
The bench said the value of its the programme to local communities across constituencies cannot be gainsaid.
Petitioners in the suit contested that the involvement of the Members of the National Assembly in the NG-CDF was harmful to the doctrine of separation of powers because it affected the powers of the executive as well as those of the Public Service Commission.
They also pointed to the violation of the division of functions between the national and county governments.
The petition stated that the NGCDF Act had provisions that encroached on county governments’ functions.
The programme has been in running since 2003 across the constituencies in the country.
