OSIEA has facilitated community groups to conduct budget monitoring in Kenya at the grassroots. Working with the International Budget Project, OSIEA prepared a simple manual for community groups to track the use of a new local development fund. The Consituency Development Fund (CDF) is used for community-based projects such as the construction of schools, health facilities, water projects, and roads. OSIEA's work promotes greater public accountability in the use of these funds.
With OSIEA support, Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri)—one of the leading human rights organization in the coastal region of Mombasa, Kenya—is monitoring the status of CDF projects in several constituencies. This project educates communities that they can demand from politicians how they want their public funds used and to ensure that such projects are constructed in an open and non-corrupt manner.
In 2003, the Kenyan government allocated 2.5 percent of ordinary collected revenue (approximately $100 million) to be administered by Parliament through the CDF. Three quarters of the amount is divided equitably between the 210 parliamentary constituencies, the unit of political representation in Kenya, while the remaining quarter caters for less-developed constituencies.
If well utilized, the potential of these funds is enormous. It is the first time in Kenya that state monies are being devolved to the local level, allowing people at the grassroots to decide their development priorities. However, the implementation of the fund is dogged by controversy and acrimony, generated by weaknesses in the Act. Members of Parliament have excessive powers to pick the committee members disburse the contracts. There have been cases of financial mismanagement, corruption, lack of community participation, and few mechanisms of oversight to hold Parliamentarians accountable. Budget monitoring of these funds will help diminish misuse and corruption.