Former Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga has moved to court under a certificate of urgency seeking to stop Parliament from entrenching the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) into law.
Through his lawyer, Paul Mwangi, Mr. Odinga is asking the court to halt ongoing efforts by the National Assembly to anchor the CDF framework in the Constitution, citing concerns over oversight and accountability.
The petition specifically targets a constitutional amendment motion sponsored by Senior Counsel Paul Otiende Amollo, the Member of Parliament for Rarieda Constituency. The motion, tabled and passed by Parliament in June 2025, seeks to enshrine the CDF as a constitutionally protected mechanism, with MPs retaining oversight of the fund.
Odinga argues that the move undermines principles of devolution and fiscal responsibility by placing public resources under direct political patronage. His legal team contends that embedding the CDF into the Constitution would weaken existing accountability structures and could open the door to misuse.
Interestingly, both Mr. Odinga and President William Ruto have in recent years taken a shared stance on removing CDF from direct parliamentary control. They have both advocated for CDF allocations to be managed either by county governments or under a specialized framework within the national government.
The matter is now set to ignite legal and political debate over the future of grassroots development financing in Kenya and who should control the purse strings.
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