Mist surrounds the roll-out of the Reformed K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF) with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) giving conflicting positions on status.
While the ministry yesterday insisted that local councils have already been oriented on the new CDF guidelines, Malga says councils, which will play a central role in managing the fund, remain in the dark.
In an interview yesterday, Malga executive director Hadrod Mkandawire said councils have neither received the guidelines nor been informed when they will get them.
“We are yet to be given the guidelines and do not have information on when they will be provided,” he said.
But Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development spokesperson Chimwemwe Njoloma, in a separate interview yesterday, said local councils have already been oriented on the guidelines.
She said the process started before the guidelines were shared with other stakeholders.
are in place. | Nation
Njoloma said councils now have the guidelines and can start implementing projects under the Reformed CDF, noting that the necessary structures are already in place.
“All the structures, be it the VDCs [Village Development Committees], ADCs [Area Development Committees] and others are in place. In fact, some councils have already started advertising projects,” she said.
The Nation yesterday sourced an electronic copy of the guidelines.
Developed by Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation in partnership with Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the guidelines outline a decentralised structure that places local authorities and community structures at the centre of implementation.
On the other hand, members of Parliament (MPs) and ward councillors are assigned oversight roles.
Under the framework, VDCs, ADCs, Urban Development Committees (UDCs) and local authorities are classified as key actors in the implementation of CDF projects.
“The implementation of the CDF revolves around the agency and activism of local communities… The MP will be countersigning the constituency development plans which are submitted to local authorities,” reads the document in part.
The guidelines further emphasise the need for citizens to own development processes and outcomes.
In this regard, communities are expected to identify projects, monitor implementation, prevent abuse of resources, report fraud and ensure the sustainability of completed works.
Local authorities are designated as the main custodians of the fund responsible for financial accountability, procurement, disbursement and record management. They will also appraise projects to ensure alignment with district development plans and oversee implementation.
The new framework also redefines the role of MPs who had pushed to directly manage the fund. However, under the guidelines, the legislators will now work with communities to identify needs, sit in ADC and Constituency Development Committees, countersign development plans, receive monthly reports, and carry out monitoring and evaluation in an oversight capacity.
Similarly, ward councillors will work with VDCs to identify needs, participate in development committees, and monitor projects within their wards.
The structure appears to align with a previous Constitutional Court position barring MPs from managing the fund on grounds of separation of powers.
Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman and Leader of the House Jappie Mhango on Thursday assured Parliament that Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha would table the guidelines on that day.
However, the guidelines were not tabled in Parliament which adjourned on Friday.
Mwanamvekha yesterday said he was in a meeting with the World Bank and urged The Nation to engage the Ministry of Local Government.
The guidelines also outline the flow of CDF, stating that resources will be transferred from the Malawi Government Account Number One to the Local Currency CDF Pool Account at the Reserve Bank of Malawi and then to individual local authorities’ Local Currency CDF Development Accounts at the central bank. Based on submitted cash flows, a Credit Ceiling Authority (CCA) will be issued to the Operating CDF Accounts of local authorities held at commercial banks.
Meanwhile, some MPs interviewed expressed support for the fund management guidelines.
Lilongwe Msinja South MP Francis Belekanyama (Malawi Congress Party) yesterday said the guidelines mark a clear shift towards decentralised, transparent, and community-driven implementation of the K5 billion fund.
Mzuzu City South West MP William Mkandawire (Independent) also welcomed the guidelines, saying they contain necessary safeguards to protect public resources. He added that complaints of abuse of the CDF should become a thing of the past if all stakeholders play their roles.
The guidelines come against the backdrop of a dramatic increase in the CDF, from K200 million to K5 billion, approved in the 2026/27 National Budget, which took effect on April 1 without an operational framework.
On Tuesday last week, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri told Parliament that competing interests from sectors such as information and gender contributed to the hold-up.
