By SYLVESTER MWALE –
WHILE the objective of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has been to spur community development, it is hardly an overstatement that its utilisation has been marred by a lack of accountability.
It must be stated from the outset that the idea behind the CDF is to empower local communities by providing a pot of funding for health, education, roads and other initiatives directly linked with ordinary citizens.
Although some projects have been accomplished through the annual fund, in practice, the CDF has been more of a political tool to reward those areas that voted for a particular parliamentarian.
This is evidenced by the greater control of the funds by members of Parliament (MPs) in the disbursement and selection of the projects to be funded.
Political interference in disbursement of CDF has also resulted into the failure to utilise the money while the little that has been used has not satisfactorily enhanced the intended objectives.
Amazingly while the fund is highly pronounced by MPs, a 2011 study by the Economic Policy Resource Centre (EPRC) on CDF revealed that the fund was not known to many ordinary citizens regardless of the extent of their proximity to CDF-funded projects.
As if that was not bad enough, it was discovered that CDF projects are associated with personal funding from the area MP or a relevant sector ministry while parliamentarians and councillors dominate the decision-making process.
Although local authorities are custodians of CDF, the defining feature of the funds has been turned into a situation where MPs have substantial control over the distribution and application.
This is a direct contrast to their primary role of lawmaking and oversight.
Therefore, it is apparent that the profound influence and domination of ‘vulture’ politicians has raised questions as to whether this fund is meeting the intended objectives when it was introduced in 1995.
“It is true that there has been abuse of the CDF by some members of Parliament but it is also true that where the MPs have exercised honour and integrity, the money has made a huge difference,” said Local Government and Housing Minister Emmanuel Chenda.
“Therefore, we cannot throw the baby together with water. What we need to do is to look at how we can step up internal controls to prevent further misapplication of CDF.”

. Chenda

Mr Chenda noted that CDF should be looked at as a quick-fix to the numerous development problems, particularly in the rural constituencies.
Nevertheless, some MPs appear to have gone beyond boundaries by literally personalising the CDF and the results have been adversarial interviews with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) or the courts of law.
Perhaps what is more painful is that despite the desperate need for various development projects at the grassroots, some money under the CDF has not only been misused, but also unused.
For instance, Auditor General Anna Chifungula said that more than K111.4 million CDF remained unutilised in eight constituencies during the 2011 financial year.

. Chifungula

Ms Chifungula was left in wonderment to learn that despite failure to utilise the CDF by the eight constituencies, additional money continued to be released by the Government.
In Luapula Province, K6.1 million funded in 2010 and 2011 for CDF projects in 13 constituencies had not been spent as of September last year.
Although the amount remained unused, a further K14 million was released in October the same year, bringing the total of the unutilised funds to K20.1 million.
“The rationale of disbursing the K14 million for 2012 CDF before exhausting the previous allocation is questionable,” Ms Chifungula said.
The glaring shortcomings in the utilisation of CDF and the cynicism about its impact have not stopped successive governments to increase the money in quick succession over the years.
Since inception in 1995, CDF has risen from K30,000 in 2002 to the current K1.3 million per year.
But this appears to be not commensurate with the development it has managed to produce.
This has inevitably raised questions on whether the funds are achieving the fundamental goals, or it is just a political tool used by the MPs to convince the electorate as they seek a new mandate.
The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has not carried any assessment on the impact of the funds but feels much more should be done to ensure that the objective of reducing poverty among the people is achieved through CDF.
“Firstly I think it will be important that community involvement in project implementation is enhanced at every level,” said CSPR information officer, Diana Ngula.
Ms Ngula said politicians should not influence the application of CDF as that was resulting into misplacement of priorities needed by the community.
“Moreover both the District Coordinating Committees and Provincial Coordinating Committees should have an objective decision when deciding where to channel the CDF,” she added.
She also noted that lack of basic financial management skills was contributing to unutilised money under the CDF.
As stated earlier, the misapplication of CDF has generated debate on the relevance of the CDF and it is not a surprise that some ordinary people feel that it would be better to stop it.
“CDF is the only way MPs and councillors enrich themselves at the expense of the people,” said Ronald Ngwenya, a resident of Kasenengwa Constituency in Chipata District.
“If it is true that the Government is releasing K1.3 million every year for this constituency, these bad roads here would have been repaired.”
He confessed that he had never been asked to contribute to any development programme in the area and wondered how the decisions to use the DCF were made.
However, Vitalis Mooya, one of the long-serving MPs in Zambian Parliament today, said while there had been misappropriation of CDF, he did not agree that most of the money had been wasted.
Mr Mooya also blamed councils for the misapplication of funds, saying MPs were not personally involved in the allocation and application of the money.
“If you look in the latest AG Report, it is clear that it is the councils that are misusing the money by procuring second-hand graders when they know it is wrong, and I don’t know why you should blame the MPs,” Mr Mooya said.
“And it is only the new MPs without experience that are in trouble over CDF, but they will learn it the hard way, so they need more time in Parliament.
Mr Mooya said he would have loved if CDF was raised to K5 million per year to meet the development aspirations of the people in the community.
Much as it has been argued that CDF can address a number of development and governance challenges, its utilisation, as exposed in the Auditor General’s Report, raises concern as to whether such objectives could be achieved.
Therefore, suggestions to further increase the amount could provide a breeding ground for public resources’ abuse unless necessary measures are employed to prevent the loot.
The fact that the Ministry of Local Government and Housing under which CDF falls is aware about the misapplication, it will be important that internal controls are put in place to cut the hands of MPs on CDF.