MPs PLOT TO HIJACK SH6 BILLION UWEZO FUND

November 2013 -BY FRANCIS MUREITHI

UWEZO FUND LAUNCH: Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru makes remarks during the official launch of Uwezo Fund at University of Nairobi,which presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta today. Photo NICHOLAS NTHENGE.

MPs are plotting to take charge of the Sh6 billion Uwezo fund launched by President Kenyatta on September 8 to assist the youth and women access small loans for business ventures.
The MPs have lined up at least a dozen amendments to the draft Public Finance Management (Uwezo Fund) Regulations, 2013 which are before the House and which, if passed, will see the lawmakers take full control of the kitty in a similar fashion as the Constituency Development Fund.
During the debate scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon, Nairobi County Woman Representative Rachel Shebesh intends to move an amendment to the regulations to ensure that MPs become patrons of the fund at the constituency level.

This will effectively neutralize the roles of the executive including President Uhuru Kenyatta and his cabinet from administering the kitty.
The proposed changes provide that as patrons, MPs will have powers to “appoint ward representatives to the membership of the Constituency Uwezo Fund Management committee.”
MPs are presently the patrons of CDF and most often than not, majority of them have denied development cash for areas where they are unpopular.Majority of the CDF committees have also been accused of mismanaging the funds while under the watch of the MPs.
Many of the lawmakers have been at pains to deny that they have handpicked their relatives, cronies and supporters to serve in the CDF committees with the sole objective of protecting  and perpetuating the interest of the appointing authority who is the MP! Fears are that these problems may be replicated in the Uwezo Fund if the ploy by MPs succeeds.
“The County Woman Member of the National Assembly shall be the champion of the Fund at the County level and the constituency Member of the National Assembly shall be the patron of the Fund at the constituency level,” reads one of the proposed amendments.
The woman representative will be the champion of the kitty and will have the responsibility of publicizing and raising awareness of the Fund and to develop capacity building for Fund recipients for table banking.
As the Fund's patron, the MP is supposed to "provide linkage between the Fund and the public" as well as "mobilize target beneficiaries to participate in the Fund."
The MPs also want the Uwezo Fund be considered as a “supplement” of the CDF kitty. An amendment has been lined up providing that the Uwezo Fund “shall be deemed to be a supplement to the Constituencies Development Fund established under the Constituencies Development Fund Act.”
Uwezo Fund was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto on September 8 in fulfillment of the Jubilee Coalition’s pledge to propel the youth and women to the centre of national development and prosperity.
The plan is to have groups of young people and women access funds ranging between Sh50, 000 and Sh500, 000 to finance their business ventures. The Sh6bn was the amount which had been set aside by the treasury in case there was a presidential run-off  after the March 4 elections.
The envisioned run-off did not take place and the Jubilee team kept its campaign promise to Kenyans that it would ensure the cash goes to boost the youth and women.
MPs now want to amend the regulations so that Parliament allocates a yet to be specified amount of money for the kitty annually instead of it being the one-off intervention envisaged by the Jubilee leadership. By making it a revolving fund with annual allocations, Uwezo fund will mirror the Youth Fund, the Women Fund and CDF.
The MPs also want to ensure that beneficiaries shall have a grant component of twenty-five percent, fifteen percent and ten percent of the first, second and third loans, respectively.  The amendment will be moved by chairperson of the Committee on Delegated Legislation William Cheptumo.
At the same time, the MPs are set to amend the law on government procurement to ensure that 30 percent of all contracts are awarded to the youth.
A bill that seeks to guarantee the 30 per cent government contracts will be formally introduced in the National Assembly tomorrow.
The Public Procurement and Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2013 has been sponsored by nominated MP Johnson Sakaja.
The proposed law seeks to amend Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 to ensure that at least thirty per cent of the annual procurement by public entities is allocated to the youth in accordance with conditions prescribed by the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the National Treasury.
The bill recognizes youth as those aged between 18 and 35. It also recognizes association or body of persons, corporate or unincorporated in which all its directors or proprietors are persons aged between 18 and 35 years.
In April, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that 30 percent of government tenders be reserved for the youth and women.  He promised that the procurement laws will be amended to ensure his directive is implemented.