Minister of Local Government has hit back at claims his own department is dragging its feet on rolling out crucial development funds, insisting everything is running smoothly despite mounting concerns from MPs on the ground.
Dr Ben Malunga Phiri dismissed suggestions that local councils were causing delays to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and other devolved funding schemes, telling Parliament that implementation was progressing exactly according to approved procurement and project plans.
The minister was forced to defend the government's handling of the scheme after a supplementary question from the Mchinji South MP, who revealed he had received troubling reports suggesting some councils were sitting on contractor documents and loan applications simply because they lacked sufficient staff or funding to process them properly.
The MP told Parliament that while the Ministry of Finance had already released CDF funds, and the Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF) stood ready to disburse desperately needed loans to youth and women entrepreneurs, bureaucratic bottlenecks at council level appeared to be holding up the money reaching those who need it most.
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But Phiri wasn't having any of it, brushing off the MP's concerns as nothing more than unverified rumour and insisting his ministry remained the only authoritative source when it comes to tracking the true progress of government projects.
"In any management of a project, you must have a procurement plan and a project implementation plan. Those we have, and they are progressing smoothly," Phiri insisted before MPs.
The minister's robust defence is likely to raise eyebrows among those who have raised similar concerns in recent months, with mounting frustration reported across various constituencies over the pace at which CDF-funded projects are actually materialising on the ground.
Critics may seize on Phiri's blunt dismissal of the MP's concerns, questioning whether ministers are fully in touch with the reality facing under-resourced councils, or whether reassurances from Capital Hill risk papering over genuine implementation problems affecting ordinary Malawians waiting on promised development projects.
For young people and women hoping to access MEDF loans through the scheme, the exchange in Parliament will do little to ease uncertainty over exactly when -- or whether -- long-promised funding will finally reach their communities, despite the minister's confident assurances that all is well behind the scenes.
