LOCAL Government, Housing, Early Education and Environmental Protection Minister, Nkandu Luo has said the Government has disbursed K65.5 billion Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to 91 constituencies in the country.
Speaking in Lusaka yesterday during her inaugural Press briefing at her office, Prof Luo, who was flanked by her deputy Esther Banda and senior directors, said CDF was meant to finance all micro projects and benefit communities.
She said the Government would soon disburse K42.4 billion to the remaining 59 constituencies as part of the Patriotic Front (PF) Government’s continued efforts to empower communities.
“As PF Government, we have an onerous task ahead of us, that of serving the public and we need each other’s efforts to succeed in delivering on our noble goals.
“So far my ministry has disbursed a sum of K65.5 billion to 91 constituencies and we are remaining with a balance of K42.4 billion to be disbursed to remaining 59 constituencies across the country,” she said.
Prof Luo said a budget provision of K108 billion was approved as CDF by Parliament in the 2011 national Budget under her ministry for disbursement in equal allocations of K720 million per constituency to all the 150 constituencies in the country.The minister has also directed the local authorities to take over the running of markets and bus stations.
She said the Government would ensure that Markets and Bus Stations Act No: 7 of 2007 was fully implemented.“It is high time we brought sanity in markets and bus stations so that we can improve the environment in which traders are operating,” she said.
Over the years, Prof Luo said, it had been difficult to re-invest money collected from market and bus stations because power to run such facilities was usurped from local authorities.
She said the measures that the Government had put now would result in improved provision of clean and safe drinking water, better sanitary facilities and solid waste management, and reduced incidences of diarrhoeal diseases. Prof Luo also directed all local authorities to immediately stop issuing permits to operators of car washes.
“I am hereby directing all local authorities to stop issuing permits to operators of car washes until a full audit has been conducted,” the minister said.
She said there was need to put in a regulatory framework that should set minimum standards and procedures for construction and operation of car washes. On increased street vending, she said, the ministry would set up a multi-sectoral task force on street vending to see how best the issue could be addressed. The ministry was also undertaking public outreach activities with various stakeholders.
She said there was need for the Government to clean up cities like Lusaka which had witnessed an influx of street vendors and increased outbreak of cholera during the rain season.
Prof Luo said some parts of the country like Lusaka experienced floods due to limited drainage systems and blockage of existing drainages as a result of indiscriminate garbage disposal.She said her ministry would give priority to addressing problems of drainages in Lusaka such as Kanyama and Bombay drainages to facilitate free flow of storm water.
Meanwhile, all mayoral elections for city and municipal councils would be held on Saturday at 10:00 hours while elections for district council chairpersons and their deputies would take place on Sunday.
Prof Luo said the new councillors who were elected last month had constituted a new council and were eligible to hold mayoral elections on October 8, 2011. She said the new mayors and their deputies would be installed the same day.
[Times of Zambia]
PF at work…
The working and caring govt at work.
Yes na votele ba Kateka nififine
All critics are quiet now. Thats a good start.
well done. now follow up and make sure our money is put to good use!
Good work maddam Luo, PF at work go zambia go.
I hope madam Minister will not get a commsion for distrubting such large funds! I thank PF government, it is not MMD national chairperson Michael Mabenge who is handling these funds! He believes in “ukulya mwibala!” Ya ba, even ka 1% of K65b is K650m he would have been happy.
This comes to $400,000 per constituency on average. Is it any wonder that there is slow development in Zambia? What should be done is simply to give only 30 constituencies all the money available per year and over the five year period they will all have received a tranche.
LETS TO JUST SEND MONEY TO THOSE CONSTITUENCIES BUT ALSO FOLLOW UP. WE NEED PROPER ACCOUNTABILITY!
Where is Mr Capitalist, MMD Bootlicker and Aussie Engineer?
Itruly miss their jibber-jabber. Keep counting you mugs! How many days now?
Well said brother, those hypocrites were against everything PF. I suspect they are in their late fifties hence their mindsets are glued to the old way of thinking.
# 9 – You will hear them in 2016. This is no longer their fora!
Iwe Nkandu not so long ago you were MMD, so don’t do your work in the name of PF, do it because you are a proud Zambian and a public servant whose obliged to serve Zambian & its citizens to the best. Please prove me wrong this time around!
This program was finalised by MMD, approved in the previous Budget and was acknowledged by PF & UPND
Its my hope that no one Re-Directs that money into their Pocket. Prof. Lou, can you make sure that you do NOT STEAL again like in the previous matter while you saved under Chiluba?
The irony is that you selected and disbursed the first bunch of money to all PF Constituencies while leaving UPND & MMD Constituencies for a later date. This is simply wrong. Everyone should benefit at the same wave. Sata is not a president for PF Strong holds but for the whole Zambia.
Thank You guys for having voted men/women at work .I love sata coz he goes down to the root to see the teh happenings,not via messengers .
Be honest people ,how do u think Banda is now feeling?
Banda is shitting bile at this point….he is on E!!!! Bamu pwisha!!!
This is done all the time so nothin new here its accountablity and a measure of actual changes in these constituencies that will count so far me im waiting to see the fruit…
I mwe dont get excited for nothing this in money alrady alloacted by RB, and there is nothing creative about conducting an audit, thats normal business management. I would be surprised that even when PF goes to take a crap you guys will still applaud
Thanks PF. Show MMD that your leadership style is great. Thanks Prof. Luo for the good news
@7 The saint,
You will be surprised to note that tho our people are in serous poverty, financial requirements to uplift there stand of leaving may not even be all that big. For example, you have villages where people have to walk for a long distance to fetch dirty drinking water. Give them 25 million Kwacha and they will put up a borehole. People will have clean water hence reduced diarrhea cases so you cut on expenses for diarrhea medicines. simple!!!
You can also build a small clinic to serve locals for less than 200 million kwacha,villagers will make their own blocks,provide free land, brick layers will come from the community for free etc.So 400,000 usd may not be adequate to meet all requirements but it will help a lot.
What interests me most is Sata has never made funny trips since in the office. This shows how hard working he is. Besides he is not as excited as RB. HH must learn from Sata’s leadership
@ka’Doyo.What is wrong with some zambians.You condemn everything.Nkandu is a zambian.She foresaw the downfall of mmd and jumped into mu bwato.The rest is history as they say……
Eagle-eagle I didnt believe that you are a real eagle-eagle until now, people with heart conditions are not advised to fly, reason – reduced oxygen levels.
What and which systems are in place to ensure that these monies do not fall into the cracks of corrupted figiures? Who are the accountable officers in these constituencies? Why NOT WAIT until accountable and project management personnel are available in each constituency before sending in the funds?
Oh nkandu luo, a beautiful and hard working woman, is what you are!
I agree with u #5 and 8.let the minister and his pipo go down down to constituencies and monitor to ensure da money goes in development.disembursing funds is one thing but putting it to good intended use is another.plz plz audit all these constituencies.the come down to ministries at district level.
# 16 eagle eagle- ure so shallow how long has he been in office?less than 2 weeks!and in case u dont know he will certainly take alot of them it goes with the office not the person so talk about things u know
#17…. Ok I just don’t like the woman period(No offense) LOL. They should just do their jobs and what is expected of them despite which party they belong to. But all in all good work and start to her job.
PF is full of old and urgly people
chikala is your dad handsome wheather you like it or not tuleteka
Please ensure she does not come near that money I beg ohhh! Let the people responsible for handling funds handle them and let her just give speeches. Tasintha, ICASA
“…K108 billion was approved as CDF by Parliament in the 2011 national Budget under her ministry for disbursement…” So let me get this straight…she is implementing MMD policy?
all this can be achieved by employing vigorous coercion within the local authorities to ensure equity of the funds and accountability
This was the money generated by hard working MMD.
#27 walasa, infact she is still a member of mmd, even her boss is the seniour member of mmd. Did you know that PF is MMD(b)?
Number 22 you are spot on. Are systems in place to ensure accountabilty? Madam Minister do not be in a hurry to impress. Are there projects linked to specific budget lines of these funds you are hurriedly disbursing? Creaful before u tumble
The reporter should list down the 91 constituences for the sake of transparency and follow up.
Nkandu Luo, where is ICASA money that you chewed and even ended up being divorced by you husband? Sata cannot claim to be fighting corruption when 80% of the people he has appointed are thieves. That is why the only reason he appoints them is because they are Bemba. Family and tribal tree that is the worst in the history of zambia.
chikala iwe why are you so dull ,are lubinda,inonge,scort,simusa,lungu,shamenda,chinda,mwaliteta,kapata,zulu and keith bembas
H.E MC SATA owez said zambia has money and he knwe exactly where the money was.DONCHI KUBEBA ZOOOOONA.I think 90 days the big man was trying to be casual.He meant one month.Show them how its done…………
Answer to14: The wisman from the East RB knows that service to the nation is above personal pride. he did the best and posterity will prove Him as one of the successful Presidents of Zambia who led the nation achieving the 2030 vision! As for me I am still waiting for money in my pockets! I actually bought a pair of shorts with many pockets but they are still empty. Secondly, I am waiting for fuel to be cheaper-less than a dollar! I still remember by PF economists that if in Congo its cheap, they will do it!
We are anticipating new complex management system in place to deal with perenial problems that have beset councils for decades. We have heard nothing novel from prof. Luo she is actually parroting MMD language of boasting disbursing billions of kwacha as usual. No new guidelines, no priorities identified and no ppolitical will to change except rhetoric. Its not only Mabenga who stole constituency funds, Luo equally was involed in the Icassa misappropriation of funds. Parrot MMD constituency funding as a method of development for rural areas, you are likely to misappropriate that funding. Think new ways of developing Zambia.
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous!!!
No one chooses to be ugly, they are born that way. lets not be childish and laugh at someone because they are ugly, this tribe or that tribe, born in chigololo relationship (to use Thandiwe’s expression. No one chooses chooses these things. You can laugh at someone who had a choice and made a bad choice and sufffered the consequences. Not something that they had no choice on. If someone is born lame, blind, do you laugh at such a person. if Nkandu Luo is ugly, well at least she did something good with her life. She’s a prof and talented researcher in HIV and AIDS. She had a choice to go to school and she did well. So all you beauties out there, charm may be false but the woman who fears the Lord …..
Accountability, transparency and monitoring systems please.
No need to be excited about this. This was money ALREADY budgeted for by the previous MMD regime in the 2011 budget. What Nkandu did was to merely implement the previous regime’s policy in that regard. There are many things the PF government will implement which were initiated by MMD because they were budgeted for, simple as that. Credit can only be given if, say, fuel prices were brought down from the current prices, and more money in the pockets. That,when it happens, i believe, can then be worth noting that the PF has done according to the campaign promises, and i will have no problem giving praise where it is due.
And a typical example is the newly renamed Mwanawasa stadium in Ndola. When the president will officially open it to the Zambian people, are we going to say bravo PF? No, for the simple reason that this was a project initiated by the previous regime, and that the current regime will just implement that which was budgeted for and completed by the previous regime. It’s not a time to get excited with pronouncements, it’s time to get down to serious work because our work culture is the contributing factor to underdevelopment. My opinion exactly.
this cdf money is most abused of funds by MPs, every year you hear of large amounts disbursed but no impact on the ground be it in villages or towns cdf money has no impact, and there is no transparency how this money is used. Could there be some forum where the developmental projects are discussed and people can follow and see, which constituencies are doing what, may be this is one way ZNBC can attract viewers, give all the 155 constituencies time to present their projects to the nation, as it is this money is just abused by MPs and there relatives!