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The increase of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was met with happiness by Zambians. The increase of the CDF also came with new guidelines, which include guidelines on community based projects, youth empowerment projects, women empowerment projects, and secondary boarding schools and skill development bursaries.
The allocations of the funds is that 60% goes to community based projects, 10% to youth and women’s projects, and 20% to secondary skills and bursary development.
However, since the disbursement of the CDF for the first quarter, much of the funds have not been utilized, due to excessive red tape and bureaucracy. This is a cause for concern, as the primary purpose of CDF is to be used to develop communities, this cannot be achieved if the money is not used.
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Further to this, some Members of Parliament feel that the CDF will not be used effectively, as the guidelines are too stringent. Because of this, Member of Parliament for Chama North, Mr. Mtayachalo moved a private member’s motion to amend the CDF guidelines, to include sponsorship for higher education outside of TEVETA courses, but also to amend the bureaucracy in the CDF guidelines.
However, as the Member tried to push his motion, there was confusion concerning what he was really trying to achieve – his debate began with him mentioning that too much bureaucracy made it difficult to access the CDF, but somehow transformed into a request that the guidelines include sponsorship for tertiary education outside of TEVETA courses.
This caused confusion among members of the house, and as the debates continued, it was unclear what the end goal of the motion was.
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However, in his remarks, Minister for Local Government, Garry Nkombo said that the motion was undermining the functions of the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB). He added that the CDF is meant to push community driven development projects, and that the motion would divert funds from that.
Mr Nkombo added that the current motion would be unsustainable to keep the CDF rolling.
The matter went to vote, and most members of parliament voted against it. Therefore, the CDF guidelines remain the same.
