Members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday asked the Minister of Finance, Economic and Planning Dr Goodall Gondwe to raise their Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K18 million to K30 Million.
The MPs said this in Parliament when the Finance Minister was addressing the House that Government has set aside some funds through the district councils, to use for the drilling of boreholes in every constituency.
Reacting to the announcement, the legislatures told Gondwe to allocate the said funds to the CDF.
According to them, the councils are fond of misusing the public funds.
MP for Dedza East, Juliana Lunguzi said “there is no need of setting another special fund for drilling boreholes, because all the money will be wasted, without seeing what it was used for.”
While concurring with Lunguzi, MP for Dowa East Maxwell Thyolera said he was surprised that Government was centralizing this work at district councils when MPs were able to do the same with the CDF.
“Like in my case I managed to construct a number of bridges and boreholes, using the said fund. It is surprising to note that instead of considering increasing the CDF, Government wants to set aside money for another fund,” Thyolera said.
Gondwe however, stood his ground saying Government will not relent and reverse its decision amid the calls from the MPs.
“It is with sadness that the bridges that people claim to have constructed using the CDF are of substandard or non-functional. The functional ones are not those constructed by CDF, but some nongovernmental organizations working in those areas,” Gondwe said.
CDF is a funding arrangement from central Government to electoral constituencies and meant to finance local development projects like construction of bridges, school blocks and boreholes and is entrusted in the hands of legislators.