Distraught with alleged abuse of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) says it it will in the first half of the 2025/26 fiscal year carry out a constituency audit.
The audit, to be carried out in the Synod’s jurisdiction (Northern and Cent ral regions) will cover six years from 2019.
Account abi l i t y and governance experts have since welcomed the move, saying it is in line with the need for accountability as a continuous process and not a once off event.
Speaking on the sidelines of an inspection of development projects at Old Jalawe in Rumphi East, synod general secretary the Reverend William Tembo said while in other areas have developed with the fund, others have not.
He said: “Major sources of income for Malawi are donations and taxes and we want to complement government ‘s efforts in ensuring that transparency and accountability is being observed. We don’t want individuals from benefitting from CDF.
“We will conduct spot check audits. If nothing is happening , we will ask government to directly inject CDF into other funding windows in councils. It is not witch-hunt. Our officers will round constituencies and cross-check that information with councils.”
Reacting to the development, budget tracking expert Mavuto Bamusi said the exercise will also help assess the quality of infrastructure projects.
He said: “There is little action because member of Parliament and district council officials have vested interests in CDF funds. In some constituencies, CDF is becoming an avenue for corruption and procurement fraud.
“I suggest that CDF should be abolished. The funds should be integrated into the District Development Funds [DDF]. This is because CDF creates unfair advantages to sitting MPs, especially in an election year where the MPs have to compete with new candidates that have no access to CDF.”
Centre for Social Accountability an d Transparency Willy Kambwandira wished that the audit was done now before the elections to allow actions and decisions to be taken against errant MPs.
He said: “CDF has been shrouded in secrecy and abuse and very little has been done to reprimand MPs who allegedly abuse CDF.
“The audit is long overdue and we commend the synod for taking the initiative.”
Minister of Local Government, Un i ty and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda was not readily available for comment yesterday, but he recently urged MPs and local councils to be accountable on CDF.
In 2018, former Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe announced in Parliament that 20 lawmakers mismanaged K80 million, which was part of K3 billion CDF for the fiscal years 2014/15 and 2015/16.
From K1 million per constituency in 2006, CDF was raised to K3 million in 2013 and further adjusted to K10.5 million in 2016.
The fund reached K19.5 million in 2018 before reaching K30 million in 2019.
By 2020, the fund’s budget was K40 million before it was adjusted to K100 million in 2022/23 financial year.
The fund was further raised to K200 million in the 2024/25 fiscal year and reached K220 million this fiscal year.
