Lamu,KENYA:Lamu woman rep Ruweida Obbo has criticized the process used to allocate the National Government Affirmative Action Fund-NGAAF terming it unfair.
Obbo says the current process used to allocate the funds is meant to condemn and demean some counties especially Lamu which has always received the least amount.
The NGAAF relies on among other factors,the number of constituencies to determine the amount to be allocated.
Speaking in Lamu on Tuesday,Obbo said Lamu only gets Sh.14 Million just because it has only two constituencies;Lamu East and West.
The woman rep says it would be better for the government to also consider the state of insfrastructure,poverty and literacy levels and the needs of each county before allocating the NGAAF funds.
She said despite the fact that Lamu only has two constituencies, the county was more needy considering the fact that much of the infrastructure and general development was still at its poorest compared to other counties.
“This general assumption that funds are allocated based only on some factors and not others is really now working for Lamu and its outright unfair.When you base the allocation on the number of constituencies and not the state of poverty or infrastructural challenges, how can we ever attain equality and fairness then,”said Obbo.
Obbo said it was unfair that developed counties like Nairobi which is already overflowing with industries and has established infrastructure receive up to Sh.100 Million of the NGAAF funds while Lamu gets peanuts.
“The government should consider changing this.We cant have Lamu get what it gets if we truly desire to achieve balance in development and resource distribution. Giving us just Sh.7 Million per constituency isn’t helping much.We need enough money to lift Lamu up to the standards of Nairobi,Machakos and the rest,”said Obbo.
