THERE have been very serious flaws in the manner in which the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) have been utilised by various local authorities, including area members of Parliament (MPs).
This is a facility whose goals were well-intended by the Government, and the Patriotic Front (PF) administration has always used the money to foster development in all sectors of the economy starting with the grassroots level.
Constituency Development Funds are supposed to run in tandem and complimentary with other national development programmes, all aimed at improving the welfare of citizens.
This can be through the development of health, education, water and sanitation, roads and other social infrastructure.
The facility is also a sure way of helping to create jobs for the high number of unemployed youths in the various constituencies so as to reduce escalating poverty levels.
The Government has even gone an extra mile by increasing the allocation from about K700,000 to K1 million for each of the existing 150 constituencies countrywide that are in dire need of infrastructure development.
Some constituencies, for example, are said to have never fully benefitted from the CDF facility because of poor handling of the funds by either respective local authorities or area MPs.
Recent observations by Ndola’s Bwana Mkubwa Member of Parliament (MP) Emmanuel Chenda, on the need for accountability as regards CDF are valid but this has not been the case as many culprits have gone scot-free.
Mr Chenda pointed out that, apart from the lack of accountability, there had been total failure by councils and other stakeholders to supervise or implement projects.
There have been reports of failure by local authorities to submit financial reports on the utilisation of CDF and this has caused infrastructure development countrywide to suffer.
In most cases, council officers as well as area MPs have reportedly diverted the funds to things that are irrelevant, only benefiting their personal desires.
On the other hand, there has been rampant corruption, especially in the awarding of contracts using CDF, resulting in poor project implementation.
This is in total disregard of guidelines on the management and utilisation of the CDF and this should be urgently checked.
Time and again, the Government has warned these local authorities on the misuse of CDF but this seems to have ended just at that level and no action has been taken against the culprits.
The Government should put in place a system aimed at sealing all the loopholes instead of just issuing warning after warning. Tough action should be taken in relation with revelations of the Auditor-General’s report.
In addition, the community should be involved in the planning and implementation of the projects and that constituency offices should be given responsibility in the handling of the money other than letting councils handle it alone.
While calls to increase the allocation further is good, the question is, will these resources taken from the tax payers’ coffers be utilised prudently?
The answer could be Yes, if there is a new system in place to seal the existing loopholes in the usage of funds and No, if the concerns raised by stakeholders are not urgently addressed.
All in all, CDF is a good concept that can spur not only development in the country, but also help create employment opportunities in the various constituencies to help reduce high poverty levels.