MPs to abuse K12 million water development fund – ADC
People of Inkosi Khosolo in Mzimba District have expressed fear that the K12 million water development fund government has injected into constituencies will not register impact because there is high likelihood that members of Parliament will cling to the resources and abuse them.
Alert Khosolo Area Development Committee (ADC) Chair person, Patrick Nyirongo challenged that unless strict measures were put in place to hold the legislators accountable, the money will be mismanaged, like has always been the case with constituency development fund (CDF).
Nyirongo took MPs to a swipe for using CDF as purely personal money, with no one to be accountable to.
Nyirongo ’s fears were expressed Tuesday, on the sideline of an interface meeting organized by Mzimba Education Network (MZIDEN) to brief education stakeholders on the survey it carried out in Inkosi Khosolo, on the status of education.
On top of the CDF, now pegged at K23 million, which MPs argue it belongs to them, government has pumped a hooping K12 million at constituency level, for borehole drilling, a move to increase people’s access to potable water.
Said Nyirongo , “It is doubtful the money will serve the purpose intended for because of bad example MPs have set in management of CDF, which they claim belongs to them and no one has the audacity to question how they are used.”
But Chair person for education service committee, Suzgo Msowoya parried away fears registered by the ADC Chair, explaining that the water development fund is government resources which have set down procedures guiding their expenditure.
“There is no room that an MP can cling to K23 million as their own money. The money will be used for borehole drilling . It can not be diverted to other quarters because every patriotic and rightful thinking person will have a keen eye to see how the money has been used,” said Msowoya, councilor for Kasito Ward.
In many constituencies, CDF has created conflicts between MPs and councilors, who champion development at grass root level.
Some MPs look down upon councilors as underdogs, as the latter do not have resources to steadily stand with their two legs.
The Ward representative solely survive on erratic allowances during seldom full council meetings, reluctantly called by council secretariat.
The confusion in management of CDF has also demotivated members of area development committee (ADC) and village development committee (VDC) which are power houses for successful execution of development projects, since MPs just impose on them CDF financed projects, which become vulnerable to sustainability challenges.
The CDF is victim of abuse by lawmakers because it is betrayed by the name Constituency Development Fund, a title many have reasoned if it could change to a neutral name, proposed as Area Development Fund (ADF), so that no one can claim ownership.
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