Kitwe’s independent Nkana Member of Parliament Binwell Chansa Mpundu has said the utilisation of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is in a mess owing to the inertia among councils in the country.
Mr. Mpundu said some people in local authorities are frustrating CDF projects proposed by various constituencies.
He said so far in Nkana Constituency no CDF project has taken off this year despite the Central Government disbursing three quarters of the K25.7 Million allocation.
“CDF is in a mess. We have been sitting on money from April when the first disbursement was released. If you count from April to today, how many months have passed? Even if procurement processes take long. Procurement can’t take eight months. Even if Secretary to Treasury has to approve, even if the Attorney General has to approve projects cannot take eight months. This is when they have started CDF procurement processes, tender process. I can guarantee you that projects won’t start in Nkana Constituency until January because the procurement processes are just starting. So, if anybody would stand and challenge me that CDF is not a mess can you justify why we must be sitting on money. The only money we have spent out of K25.9 Million is the money for sponsoring for skills development and those that we have taken to boarding schools. This is the situation in all constituencies in Kitwe. There is no single project that has been handled in the entire five constituencies in Kitwe. We have done our part. We submitted people’s proposal,” Mr. Mpundu said.
He said teething problems negatively affecting CDF projects in constituencies should be quickly sorted out.
“We can’t even blame the Minister of Local Government (Garry Nkombo) he has given us a go ahead. The problem is with the actual implementer who are the councils. That is where the inertia is. If it was within my powers I can overhaul the entire systems because they are the ones dragging things. If I were the Minister of Local Government, I would go to every local government and pick out the moles because within this system some people want to be bribed. If they realise that the project won’t selfishly benefit them they end up frustrating it. Government has made an undertaking that because of these procedures but the teething problems must be quickly addressed. It should not take more than one year just to address teething problems. The problem is not with guidelines but inertia to move in councils. Say a contractor is picked today to construct a clinic, the council has to write to get authority from Treasury. The council has to write to get authority from the Attorney General. The Secretary to the Treasury has noted that the job is big so they have delegated authority to provinces to give authority but the Attorney General want to have the authority to sign for the over 150 constituencies with over ten projects in each constituency. Why can’t the Attorney General’s office delegate authority to provinces so that we reduce on the time it is taking,” he said.
Mr. Mpundu said it was unfortunate that the disbursed CDF is being under utilised.
“President Hakainde has fulfilled his promise to give us money (CDF). As we speak, we are sitting on 75% disbursement. Remember the government said it will be disbursing money per quarter. So, we are sitting on money as we speak. That is why I am saying to actually implement CDF projects it is not the Member of Parliament, it is not the CDF committee, and it is the council. If this conversation reaches the Minister of Local Government he should investigate problems surrounding CDF. That is why I have stated before we cannot even subject the President to having a meeting to speak to Councils, Mayors or Town Clerks on why CDF projects are advancing. We are punishing the President. He has done his job. We will also wrong to accuse the Minister of Finance for failure on CDF. We know where the failure is,” he said.
manje uyu Sunday Chanda akwanisa bwanji
There is serious confusion in the governance structures at local level. There is a member of parliament and the District commissioner who are fighting each other all the time. They all have their own caders. Then there is the council who are also supposed to be the vehicle for development at local level. The three wings do not coordinate and are at each other’s throats. Best is to channel all the funds to the councils and let the council run a budget agreed by all .
Here in Solwezi, the fighting is even worse and there is total confusion. At the council they all look confused.The DC is very powerful and wants to control everything. The mayor has his own agenda while the MP who is not seen also has his own camp. It is even worse at the provincial office.. We dont know who is in charge between the the PS and his deputy. It seems the deputy ..she has more power than the PS. Can someone come as sort out this mess so that we can see proper development. In PF there was better organisation
CDF was meant as way to pay back UPND supporters. It was released without any plans whatsoever, Now what is happening is people are thinking what are we going to do with the money. It is the same scenario what happens to UN funded NGOs. They will have the money sited in the bank and towards the end of the year they see that this money will go back and resort workshops in Livingstone, Siavonga etc. Before this CDF was increased structures and systems were supposed to be put in place. What we have now are Hungry Hyenas with no plans trying to access the money.
HON BINWELL,
I hope you atre reading these comments. You are a brilliant mind and I do agree with SOME OF YOUR SENTIMENTS. However not with all. YOU ARE THE MP FOR THAT AREA AND REPRESENT THE PEOPLE. So instead of passing the buck, find out at what stage the system is breaking, talk to those in that stage, get enough information, call a meeting, go to Gary Nkombo and all concerned . explain to them that it affects the government popularity as well, get a team to fast track once all areas of sabotage are ironed out etc. THAT IS WHAT MAKES A GOOD MANAGER – TAKE A WEAKNESS AND MAKE IT A STRENGTH. TAKE A LEAF FROM SUNDAY CHANDA – HOW COME THEY/ HE ARE MOVING AHEAD? HE HAS DOE HIS GROUND WORK FROM THE BEGINNING – PLANNING, SOLVING, DISCUSSING, EDUCATING, MENTORING ETC – THAT IS WHY
YOU…
Anything and everything hh touches turns into a mess
Ask Hon.Sunday Chanda, Kanchibiya how he has managed to utilize the CDF.
@kci, I wonder whether Mr. Sunday Chanda is a UPND cadre
I am in Kanchibiya…….there are problems here also with this CDF. Do not be misled by Sunday Chanda. He has a personal agenda of promoting his name with UPND.
Sunday Chanda is a betrayer. All he wants is to find his way into the UPND. Right now he can’t say anything that resonates with his party.
Anyways, he has been in all past political parties and his games are well-known.
Well said hon. Binwell Mpundu. It’s just unfortunate that the UPND MPs in the National Assembly, recently, shot down the motion to revise the CDF guidelines, for reasons best known to themselves..
It just shows some MP’s lack business management skills and only know how to talk.
Brainless chaps.
Upnd mps you are right
MP belongs to The Legislature arm of the govt (policy and law makers and not executive arm (projects implementation). so CDF act was fraud from the word go and couldnt have existed. Yes MPs are for talk and not “business management “
By the way, MP belongs to The Legislature arm of the govt (policy and law makers and not executive arm (projects implementation). so CDF act was fraud from the word go and couldnt have existed. Yes MPs are for talk and not “business management “
Hon Lusambo, said i have no capacity to manage these funds and he was right
Scrap the DCs …….. too much inteferance . They are dull and ill qualified to talk about development.
Binwell,you are an MP. Work on that issue and bring solutions. You are not supposed to be complaining all the time. It is your constituency which is being affected. The way you are behaving is like someone who has just gotten married. You have been given a wife. Instead of doing your bedroom exercise, you are consulting your parents. You are a man do your job!!man!!
Fuseke iwe
8 months from receiving money to tender award is very normal.
1. Month 1 – money received
2. month 2 and 3- looking for the projects for these received money and local approvals
3. moth 4 and 5 – Waiting for minister of local government to approve
4. Month 6,7 and 8 – Tendering process and award
5. Month 9 – Minister of Justice contract approval
6. Month 10 – Secretary to treasurer – approval
7. Month 11 – sign of the contract
8. Month 12 – Contractor on site with down payment
I dont know how it can be done better. skipping any of above step will result in audit query and “Public out cry of corruption “