By AARON CHIYANZO
WITH the enlarged scope of work, the CDF announced by the new dawn government is too little to produce tangible results, Chama North Member of Parliament Yotamu Mtayachalo has said.
And the Zambian DNA says rural constituencies needed more CDF compared to those in urban areas which were already developed.
Mr Mtayachalo said in as much as the move to increase CDF was commendable, the increased scope of work made it insufficient.
He said in an interview that expecting K25.7 million CDF to cater for student bursaries and feeder roads among others, was unrealistic.
Mr Mtayachalo said the CDF allocation by the new dawn government was little considering the increased scope of work.
“Considering the fact that now we have to cater for student bursaries through CDF and construct roads and clinics using the same funds, it will be little,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zambian DNA spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa said the increased CDF would cater for various developmental projects in the respective constituencies but that rural constituencies should be allocated more.
He said local communities were expected to prudently utilise the said resources in an effort to improve the people’s welfare.
“Further, we expect the local communities to prioritise the utilisation of CDF to needy areas in their particular localities, especially rural constituencies.
“However, whilst we appreciate President Hakainde Hichilema’s move to heed people’s calls to increase the CDF, we are of the view that rural constituencies should be allocated with more funds than urban constituencies because of the glaring disparities in development,” said Mr Mulemwa.
Mr Mulemwa said Zambezi’s Chavuma Constituency, like many other rural constituencies, was in dire need of more schools, clinics and other social amenities than Lusaka’s Kabwata Constituency which already enjoyed better social services than the rural constituencies.
He urged President Hichilema to consider allocating more resources to rural constituencies.
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