A new study shows that the funds should not be allocated uniformly if poverty is to be used as a measure to allocate resources.
The study by a policy think tank, Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (Ipar), says a region’s incidence of poverty is a better measure over its contribution to overall poverty.Currently, the poverty index is not considered in allocating CDF to constituencies and provinces.
The study says provinces with the highest number of constituencies, which are not necessarily the poorest, are the greatest beneficiaries of CDF.
Poverty incidences are highest in Nyanza and North Eastern provinces, with levels of 64.5 and 64.2 per cent, respectively. Western follows with a poverty incidence of 60.08 per cent, Eastern with 58.3 per cent and Coast with 57.8 per cent. Central has the lowest incidence of poverty at 31.1 per cent.
KENYA STREET TALK
Prime Minister-designate Raila Odinga’s endorsement of the Safaricom IPO, which his ODM Party was so bitterly opposed to, is intriguing though it’s a relief to the Government as it needs the money, says Jack K. Buliba. “Of course, we know that everything that has a political touch is being done in the spirit of national reconciliation. However, I believe it’s still in the public interest for us to be told the truth. For instance, who are the real owners of the mysterious Mobitelea company that is said to hold a 10 per cent stake in Safaricom?”
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Talking about promises and politicians, James Rotich has never forgotten the promise by the then high-riding National Rainbow Coalition made in the run-up to the 2002 elections, in which it ended Kanu’s four-decade stranglehold on power. “Narc promised a four-lane highway from Mombasa to the Kenya-Uganda border, they are talking about turning Thika Road into a 10-lane superhighway. For heaven’s sake, do not give us hopes you can’t fulfill.”
