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Uganda: Reconsider Constituency Development Fund
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New Vision (Kampala)
EDITORIAL
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Kampala
THE Clerk to Parliament has warned that MPs who have not accounted for the sh10m Constituency Development Fund (CDF) advanced to them last year will not receive the second disbursement due in May.
Of the 319 MPs who received the fund, only three have submitted satisfactory accountability, according to the House's chief internal auditor. This is very unfortunate considering the fact that MPs are the law makers of this country and are also supposed to play a watchdog role on the implementation of government programmes. What moral authority will they now have to hold public officers accountable when they flout with impunity, the very laws they are supposed to uphold?
Rubanda West MP Henry Banyenzaki has now joined the majority public calling for the scrapping of the fund. However, rather than scrap the fund altogether, the money should be channelled through the appropriate local government organs that are, in the first place, constitutionally mandated to champion grassroots development.
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Since its inception in 2005, the CDF has been abused. The majority MPs of the Seventh Parliament also never accounted for the money.
The framers of the 1995 Uganda Constitution were clear on separation of powers. Article 79 (1-3) clearly spells out the functions of Parliament; none of which is that the members can individually engage in the disbursement of funds. Failure to account means the funds were not put to proper use.
While the Clerk to Parliament should proceed to recover the outstanding amounts, it is high time the disbursement of the CDF through MPs is reconsidered. Since the money is catered for in the medium term budgetary framework, it should be channelled through the local governments. The MPs should concentrate on their mandate of making good laws for the development of this country and play their watchdog role on the implementation of government programmes.
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