By KETRA KALUNGA
CAPACITATE the local authorities to ensure the K25. 7 billion allocated to each constituency under the constituency development fund (CDF) in the 2022 national budget will be properly accounted for, former Forum For Democracy and Development (FDD) vice president and Lusaka based lawyer, Chifumu Banda has said. Mr Banda said in an interview that the government as a matter of urgency should deploy experienced public officers to take charge of the process of CDF allocation to ensure transparency and accountability in the utilization of CDF. Mr. Banda said he is cognizant of the fact that all the constituencies might not have an auditor seconded from the office of the auditor general’s office hence the need for government to take the urgent step of seconding an auditor to all the constituencies. “The government must come out clearly on who the controlling officer will be at the district level. That is a person who will be responsible for accounting for this money. It is important, somebody must be responsible,” he said. Mr. Banda commended the government for increasing the CDF allocation per constituency saying the move is a step in the right direction as it could take development to all parts of the country. He said local people would also be given an opportunity to fulfill the projects awarded by the council in the area and boost local production as the money would be spent locally. “I salute the minister for increasing CDF from K1.6 million per constituency to k25.7 million, this money as you are aware goes directly to the community, and therefore it is one way of ensuring that some of the projects are executed at the grass-root level. “That said, I hope that measures to ensure transparency and accountability in the utilization of this money will be put in place,” he said
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