CDF still cluttered up with abuses

Despite the introduction of new guidelines for implementation of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), studies show that the fund is still littered with abuses including non-adherence to set regulations.

For instance, a recent study by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) on the execution of CDF bursary scheme in Karonga, Ntchisi and Dowa found lack of transparency in beneficiary identification and assessment of needy students as well as excessive control by some members of Parliament (MP).

At least K5 million, or five percent of the K100 million allocated to each of the 193 constituencies as CDF, is supposed to fund the programme using guidelines adopted from the defunct National Aids Commission (NAC) funded bursary scheme for such students.

The scheme, which can help up to 50 students in a constituency, was introduced in the 2019/2020 National Budget.

In an interview this week, CCJP project officer Tuntufye Simwimba pointed out that there is poor guidance for effective, proper and uniform implementation.

Said Simwimba: “There are reports of erratic disbursements, fluctuations of the amount disbursed and disbursement delays and also political interference from MPs. There is also lack of active involvement of important policy actors in beneficiary identification.”

The project officer also cited inadequate access to information on the bursary scheme and inadequate equity consideration as some of the challenges impeding successful execution of the scheme.

Parliament in March last year adopted new guidelines that are expected to improve the management of CDF (which was increased to K100 million, from K40 million) and Water Resources Fund (CDFWRF).

In the guidelines, there is emphasis on strengthening procurement procedures to check malpractices associated with CDF such as bloating prices and awarding of contracts without following procedures.

The new CDFWRF guidelines also demand that all procurements should comply with the requirements of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Asset Act (2017) and its attendant Procurement Regulations (2020).

Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) says through its toll-free line, it continues to receive complaints such as  lack of transparency in selecting needy students as well as the management of the fund itself.

There are also reports of MPs single-handedly identifying and managing the allocation, which is against the CDF guidelines.

Other grievances include MPs’ handpicking contractors, use of political structures instead of development structures such as area development committee (ADCs) and village development committees (VDCs), concerns about sub-standard projects, abandoned CDF projects, councils forced to make full payments to contractors on works not completed, and some ADC chairpersons apparently tricked by some MPs to sign payment approval forms for projects not completed.

Csat executive director Willy Kambwandira in an interview observed that some councils do not monitor and supervise CDF projects for fear of being reprimanded by politicians.

He said: “There are no safe platforms for handling community grievances related to CDF projects or funds, as council’s fear being reprimanded by politicians. There are no platforms for communities to dialogue with their parliamentarians, and where they exist they are characterised by power imbalances.”

Kambwandira pointed out that the new CDF guidelines call for establishment of special committees to manage the selection of beneficiary students, but in most constituencies these structures are non-existent.

Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) executive director Hadrod Mkandawire said there is still no compliance with the public finance management legal and policy framework.

He also indicated that funds are being split too thinly resulting into insignificant project outcomes.

Mkandawire said that some parliamentarians enrol more students into secondary schools under the CDF bursary scheme than the allocated budget, resulting into huge arrears like at Machinga Secondary School.

Machinga district commissioner Rodrick Mateauma confirmed the arrears but indicated that he did not have the actual figures.

He said: “Some of the reasons for the arrears is because of the clash of the government’s calendar year and the school calendar year, as funds may not be available at the beginning of the school term.”

In June last year, Malga sought a judicial review after Parliament hiked the CDF and adopted new guidelines for CDF and Water Resources Fund (WRF).

The new CDF and WRF guidelines also saw MPs allocating to themselves 12 key responsibilities, which included convening meetings on a quarterly basis with ADCs, submitting requests for funding, launching and handing over of projects as well as providing written requests to DCs to release funds for a project, among others.

Councillors, on the other hand, were assigned roles such as working with VDCs to identify needs in a community and monitoring of projects.

CDF was introduced in 2006 to facilitate development in constituencies, but it has been prone to abuse with several audit reports highlighting weak accountability and management tools.

From an allocation of K1 million in 2006, the fund was raised to K3 million in 2013, K10.5 million in 2016, K19.5 million in 2018 before being increased to K30 million in 2019, K40 million in 2020 and K100 million in this financial year.