The National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) has grown from a modest Ksh 1.26 billion pilot allocation in the 2003/2004 financial year into one of Kenya’s largest and most politically contested development vehicles.

For the 2025/2026 financial year the Fund received Ksh 58.797 billion, and Parliament has already approved a further increase to Ksh 61.798 billion for 2026/2027, a 5.1 percent rise that will hand each of the country’s 290 constituencies between Ksh 8.8 million and Ksh 11.3 million more than the previous year.

National Government Constituencies Development Fund Committee chairperson Musa Sirma tabled the new budget ceilings before the National Assembly in July 2026, directing MPs to submit their constituency project proposals by July 31.

Two overlapping counting conventions are used for the Fund’s lifetime total. Measured from the Fund’s origin under the CDF Act of 2003, cumulative disbursements stand at roughly Ksh 631.7 billion.

A narrower count that tracks only the post-devolution NG-CDF era, beginning in the 2013/2014 financial year after the Fund was restructured to comply with the 2010 Constitution, puts total disbursements at about Ksh 491 billion through 2025/2026, itself a 135.9 percent increase over the Ksh 22 billion allocated in that base year.

Historical allocation growth

Financial Year

Annual Allocation (Ksh Billions)

2003/2004

1.26

2010/2011

14.28

2013/2014

22.00

2015/2016

35.21

2020/2021

41.71

2023/2024

53.53

2024/2025

54.777

2025/2026

58.797

2026/2027 (approved)

61.798

Sources: NG-CDF Board; Daily Nation; Capital FM; Kenyans.co.ke reporting on 2026/27 budget ceilings.

Under Section 4(1) of the NG-CDF Act, 2015 (as amended in 2023), the Fund is entitled to not less than 2.5 percent of the National Government’s share of revenue, as set out annually in the Division of Revenue Act.

Nairobi County, with 16 constituencies, consistently receives the largest county-level share, about Ksh 3.3 billion in 2025/2026 and a cumulative Ksh 28 billion since 2013/2014 , while Isiolo and Lamu, each with only two constituencies, receive the least, at roughly Ksh 385 million apiece in 2025/2026.

How the money is split between constituencies

Section 34(1) of the Act sets a statutory formula for dividing funds among the 290 constituencies:

            •           Equal share (75%): three-quarters of the annual allocation is divided equally across all constituencies, regardless of population or need.

            •           Ward-based share (25%): the remaining quarter is apportioned according to the number of wards each constituency contains.

            •           Historical floor safeguard: no constituency may receive less in nominal terms than it received the previous financial year, even if the formula would otherwise reduce its share.

Disbursement itself follows a quarterly cycle set out in Section 39(2) of the Act: an initial tranche equal to 25 percent of a constituency’s annual allocation is released at the start of the first quarter, with three further equal instalments released at the start of each subsequent quarter.

In practice this schedule has slipped in recent years, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi told the National Assembly in late 2025 that Sh5.3 billion in delayed disbursements would be released, and gave assurances that all arrears from prior financial years would be cleared by June 2026.