AUDITOR General Anna Chifungula has named councillors and council employees as culprits in the abuse of Constituency Development Funds (CDF).
Ms Chifungula says the officials have benefited from CDF by paying themselves hefty allowances at the cost of development at constituency and ward levels.
Recently the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Chipangali MMD Member of Parliament Vincent Mwale, grilled several public officials for misapplying public funds.
In her 2012 audit on the management of CDF and grants to local authorities, Ms Chifungula cited Kaputa Constituency, whereK29, 700 catered for councillors’ allowances.
This contravened CDF guideline number 3 (d) which underlines that “no allowances whatsoever shall be paid from the CDF.
Another anomaly was the failure to account for K220, 000 funded to train women and youth groups, in that there were no records both at the council and at the visited clubs on how the funds had been utilised.
In Mporokoso, K168, 342 was paid as sitting allowances for councillors and transport costs, while in Chilubi, K18, 000 was also paid as sitting allowance, refreshments and payment of casual workers.
She said another K69, 607 was paid to three officers in Mporokoso to facilitate for the payment of allowances and fuel imprest to other officers to carry out project appraisals and verification of CDF projects for Mporokoso and Lunte Constituencies.
“However an examination of records revealed that there were no acquittal sheets to support the payments to the other officers. In addition, inquiries made revealed that the activity was not undertaken and as of January this year, no action had been taken by the Council,” she said.
In Nalikwanda Constituency, the council irregularly paid K13, 840 from the CDF to cater for rentals of Nalwei Police post and accommodation for three police officers.
In Senanga District, the council irregularly transferred K83, 390 involving 14 transactions, from the CDF account to the district fund account and applied on the daily operations of the council, contrary to the guidelines.
In Monze District, the council neglected CDF guidelines by purchasing furniture for the chamber and new offices, using K54, 588 CDF.
In Lusaka Province, the Lusaka City Council and their Chilanga counterparts spent K13, 889 from the CDF to insure an ambulance and a grader, contrary to guidelines.
On grants, the Ms Chifungula said an audit of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, 42 payment vouchers in amounts totalling K479, 951 processed at five local authorities, were not availed for audit.
On unsupported payments, 324 payments involving K3 million processed at 33 local authorities, were not supported with relevant documents such as quotations, cash sale receipts and local purchase orders among others.
Mother Zambia we thought we were done with corruption alas now it’s like cancer spreading like fire,come on PF you always say how corrupt MMD was, but it seems
Now corruption is rampart under your noise, a lot of unvouchered expenses.
Kekekekeke Sata bamwibila again. It is like those days when Sata used to hang a calabash on his mango tree to prevent his sons and friends to eat fruits. But still he never tasted any yellow mango, only the green ones.
You have cracked my ribs
It seems to be more rampant in PF controlled councils. What a shame
All these happening just falls in place with the dochi kubeba principle. This country is headed for doom, unless the core issue of lies and deceit are removed from the systems right from the top.
I keep wondering why we think our currency can be stable with such rampant economic misapplication!
This is the reason why we will never develop.
Councils of today are not self reliant. I put the blame on FTJ. Why did he disable councils? They used to get money from the council houses rentals now that they have been sold they are looting the CDF. How can the entire council depend on ground rates and funding from the govt? wake up start supplying sewer lines at a fee, collect gabbage at a fee etc. This kind of “Docility” is not acceptable.
this really sad. now I understand why Given Lubinda had to shout and tell off the engineer at the LCC for having informed us that if you want to benefit from CDF you raise abit of money and then the Govt will top up more from CDF so that we can have roads done in kamwala south of Lusaka . Given Lubinda was annoyed and shouted at the office who had advise that there CDF money for your roads in kamwala south as long as you show and organize yourselves money from CDF will be given to you area so that the road can be worked on alas our MP refused and picked up issue with this officer that why are you telling these people that there CDF money. lUBINDA HAS DONE NOTHING OR IMPROVED OUR LIVES IN KAMWALA SOUTH . 2016 PLS LET US NOT ENTAINTAIN HIM HE IS A FAILURE
Forget the money issue. most of the councilors are practically clueless of their responsibilities. Local gvernment at the moment is next to zero.
Auditor General is toothless. ..why not refer issues straight away to ACC…this is misappropriation of taxpayer’s funds.
The Auditor General’s Office is a Constitutional office, so is what you are saying supported by our current Constitution?
In Zambia we change titles but same people
Bogus laws “This contravened CDF guideline number 3 (d) which underlines that “no allowances whatsoever shall be paid from the CDF”. Even payments for casual workers is a problem then that’s not developmental funds. Where is it supposed to be spend if you cant use it to check a project or to fund a project. Anyway that’s lost Zambia contravening international practices that projects are supposed to be self financing. Where did you expect them to get funds for fuel to go to site , or to get funds to pay casual workers and workers going on projects. If they did not retire or got paid and did not go to sites yes that’s a case, but if they retired, this is not an issue. You are hindering development with none issues.
Projects are self financing from materials, allowances, fuel, labour…
Gone. I am with you. A project has to be planned, procured and executed. How do you expect people to carry out feasibility studies without fuel? During execution, the project has to be inspected using the same project funds allocated to that people. People need to be paid out of that project. I think AG and her group are being over zealous with their Audits. I suspect they do not know what constitutes “Project Funds”. They should employ a Project Manager within their ranks. Some of these audit queries do not make sense. In my view, the issue of paying allowances becomes a problem when it is done as a “Stand Alone” activity without any project being implemented and I am sure that is what is implied. Where there is a project, people have to be paid allowances.
This chifungula gets millions in allowances. Where do u expect people working on projects to get paid from. Problem is it is bad fo a poor man to get an allowance he woked for and its okay fo u.
Bull. Even the AG and her team get allowances and monthly salaries when going for these Audits. Why cant they forfeit the allowances since it is their job to carryout audits in every part of the country. That is why these CDF projects are never completed because people are scared of auditors
To be fair the total amount invested by g.o.v ALL the mentioned areas amounts to around $1 million dollars…one million dollars. ..that’s 1million dollars…for about FIVE mentioned constituencies. …as monies for CDF….1 million dollars for 5 constituencies. …for development. ..thats nothing even if you took it as a proportion of the monies that could and should be available for these projects…lets say as a part of funds from GDP total. It true from the top down ….stealing all the way. It
mwempupu mwe !!!….This is why we are just taking ” Five steps forward and five steps back”. These self centered people are the reason why our country will take a very long time to develop. They are always thinking about themselves and not the future for all Zambians.
Corruption is the biggest disease crippling our government.
When it comes to tax payers money doesn’t matter which party you belong to. Those thieves must pay back or be sent to Chimbwakaila prison……Enough is enough ba pompwe !!!