8 October 2008
THE Government has released K44 billion for the 2008 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for 110 of the 150 constituencies in the country.
Local Government and Housing Minister, Sylvia Masebo said the Government had withheld K16 billion for 40 constituencies due to failure by some councils to submit their expenditure returns for the 2007 allocation.
Ms Masebo who was speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday said each constituency would receive about K400 million and advised the beneficiaries to ensure that they came up with viable projects for the benefit of the people.
Ms Masebo said the released funds should be used for development projects to be identified and implemented by the local people themselves.
The minister said the Government's interest was to see improvement in people's lives.
She said the balance of K16 billion for 40 constituencies would only be released after her ministry was satisfied with the submitted returns on how the money was utilised.
She said people should not politicise the release of the funds as they had nothing to do with the forthcoming October 30 presidential election because Government has an obligation to develop the country.
The decision not to release the K16 billion is part of the requirement on how the public funds should be utilised and accounted for.
She however said the management of the 2007 CDF had improved compared to the previous years when there was a lot of abuse, misapplication and misappropriation of the funds.
She commended the Members of Parliament (MPs) who had tirelessly ensured that the CDF for their constituencies was properly used on viable projects, which contributed to poverty reduction in their areas.
She implored the MPs and other stakeholders to use the CDF for 2008 on tangible projects, which would be beneficial to the communities.
She further said that, in some constituencies, there were incidences of improper usage of CDF and the cases were reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for investigations, which led to some councillors and council officials being arrested.
"I wish to appeal to MPs and communities to avoid spreading the resources thinly by funding small projects which only benefit a few individuals and which do not make an impact on the lives of the people," he said.
And Ms Masebo has refuted reports that her ministry has refused to approve the 2008 budget for the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and refused to be drawn into what she termed cheap politics.
She said her ministry delayed approving the budget for LCC, Chongwe and another local authority because they submitted unrealistic budgets which she said were later approved after they were asked to resubmit them.
She explained that her ministry did not see it fitting to approve a budget for a council, which had failed to meet the statutory obligation for the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), Local Authority Superannuation Fund (LASF) and paying of salary arrears.
And Ms Masebo said she was hopeful that the displaced Mazyopa residents would be relocated before the onset of the rain.
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