Parliament’s Third Meeting of the 52nd Session yesterday started on a busy note for Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri with an avalanche of queries over delayed Constituency Development Fund (CDF) roll-out.
Implementation of CDF was scheduled to start on July 1, three months after the 2026/27 National Budget came into effect on April 1 this year.
Stakeholders have queried the delays, expressing fear that the funds may not be fully utilised by the end of the financial year.
Taking a cue from the concerns, members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday took turns to pose questions to Phiri after he had presented his detailed update in the National Assembly in Lilongwe. The legislators expressed worry that the delays will affect development projects in constituencies.
Chimpeni. | Nation
But presenting a ministerial statement, Phiri said CDF was introduced to address weaknesses identified in the previous implementation framework while strengthening accountability, transparency, technical oversight and citizen participation.
Phiri said under the new arrangement, development planning and implementation are anchored within the local council structure, thereby re-enforcing the principle of decentralisation and ensuring that public resources should be managed in accordance with the Public Finance Managmenent Act and related laws.
Specifically commenting on delayed disbursement of funds, the minister said there is “significant progress towards the rolling out of the funds”.
Phiri highlighted the development of CDF guidelines by his ministry alongside ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation as well as Justice and Constitutional Affairs as a milestone in the rollout.
He also said local authorities have opened the CDF Bank Accounts to facilitate implementation of projects under the programme.
Declared Phiri: “In as far as fiduciary law is concerned; the local leaders were ready to implement the CDF as early as yesterday. The local authorities were funded preliminary funds in May 2026 to support the local authorities to undertake identification processes. This means the funds on the CDF have started trickling down to the councils.”
He said the ministry has facilitated the recruitment of 680 constituency development officers comprising constituency assistant accountants, work supervisors and assistant procurement officers. He further said 36 internal auditors have also been recruited to strengthen the internal control systems across local authorities.
First to query Phiri was Lilongwe City Lumbadzi MP Denis Chalera (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) who said constituents were now eager to see CDF rolled out as they have heard enough about the processes.
“The budget that we are talking in reference commenced on 1st April 2026 and today is 7th July 2026. That means that almost three months have elapsed without any sign of development on the ground because of lack of resources,” he said, adding that following the delays people out there think MPs are not doing anything.
On his part, while acknowledging the minister’s detailed statement on the fund, Nkhata Bay Chintheche MP Noah Chimpeni (People’s Party) said there are two big projects that have stalled in his constituency and the delay to disburse CDF funds was not helping matters.
He cited a health post project that has stalled after the US Government withdrew funding and a theatre at Chintheche Rural Hospital, which is also incomplete. Thus, he asked the minister if the local councils have been briefed on such projects for consideration in CDF.
In response, Phiri said his ministry was an implementing agent and that he would refer the question to Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation.
“The owner of the purse is the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation. I will take your question to the responsible minister and then we will provide proper response at an appropriate time,” he said.
Mzimba West MP Aeckim Kumwenda (Independent) made an addendum to Chimpeni’s question and said projects such as rehabilitation of Kabwafu and Malidadi health centres stalled, but they were told they fall out of the CDF realm; hence, he was seeking guidance from the minister.
But Phiri said: “In the guidelines, we mentioned that the continuation of stalled projects is allowed. What we have done now, Right Honourable Speaker, Sir, is to request all district commissioners to submit to our ministry the name of the project; the status as it stands now; and who was funding that particular project so that at least then we can reassess, determine and give them a bit of guidance on how they want to complete. However, you can be rest assured that these stalled projects will be completed. They are allowed under the same. It is just a question of making sure that we do things orderly.”
Dedza Kasina MP Joshua Malango (MCP) asked Phiri to outline measures put in place to ensure that contractors on the ground are paid timely while the ministry is managing the programme centrally.
He said: “I know that the government is broke and is struggling to pay some of the contractors. How are you going to ensure that the CDF projects are prioritised and being paid?”
Zomba Malosa legislator Grace Kwelepeta (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) asked the minister to consider some of the constituencies to allow locals to use hoes in road projects.
Implementation of the reformed CDF, hiked from K200 million to K5 billion per constituency in the K10.9 trillion 2026/27 National Budget, was expected to roll out on July 1 2026 despite the government’s fiscal year starting on April 1. CDF alone claims K1.145 trillion of the national budget allocations.
