Candidates to lobby for abolition of fund
Malawi Congress Party aspiring member of Parliment for Karonga North West Daniel Mwanyongo has said if elected, he will lobby for the abolition of District Development Fund (DDF).
He said the fund lacks proper guidelines; hence, it is prone to abuse.
Mwanyongo made the remarks on Thursday at Karonga Boma on the sidelines of a debate organised by Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) which centred on health.
“We have a long outstanding issue of Mpata Maternity Wing under DDF where a contractor was given over K109 million in 2014 and later abandoned the project at foundation level.
“It is questionable how government awarded the contract. No one seems to know. That is why we are saying let us abolish DDF and commit the money to Constituency Development Fund,” he said.
United Democratic Front running mate and aspiring MP for Karonga Central Constituency Frank Mwenifumbo agreed with Mwanyongo, saying DDF is just a conduit for theft.
“I know the people from headquarters are benefitting directly from DDF and if I go back to Parliament I will raise the issue,” he said.
On his part, Peple’s Party (PP) candidate Anderson Mwayipinga said he is going to revamp safe motherhood which has gone down eversince PP left government.
CHRR project officer Modester Ramundi said the debate sought to give a platform to candidates to present their manifestos on health issues.
CHRR is implementing a Health Governance Project in Karonga and other districts. The debate, funded by Oxfam, was attended by three candidates.
