PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has bragged that the UPND government has over delivered on its campaign promises, and has proved the “doubting Thomases” wrong in so far as the implementation and disbursement of the expanded Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is concerned.
Speaking during the official launch the National Decentralisation Policy and the commissioning of the Zambia Devolution Support Programme (ZDSP) in Chongwe yesterday, President Hichilema said nine months ago the opposition used to say that attain decentralisation through the expanded CDF was impossible but now the UPND’s dream has come to reality.
He said decentralization was important to taking government services closer to the people and that local municipalities had different challenges and needs and should therefore decide on their developmental agenda.
President Hichilema said the decentralisation policy was aimed at enhancing accountability and transparency among local authorities in the prudent utilisation of public resources.
Mr Hichilema said government was committed to expediting the decentralisation policy which was evidenced in the works done within a short time that he has been in office.
He said CDF was now being disbursed on the same day across all constituencies compared to what used to happen previously when the fund was being shared segregatively.
“Now the UPND government releases the CDF to all constituencies at the same time without any form of discrimination. In the past, the UPND constituencies never used to get CDF and if they did, that was after a long period of time but for us in the UPND, we are doing it at the same time because the fund is for the people,” President Hichilema said.
And Local government and Rural Development Minister Gary Nkombo said the decentralisation policy would strengthen accountability of local authorities and build capacity in determining development programmes in communities.
He said the ZDSP comprises two support lines amounting to about US$210 million dollars financed by the World Bank.
And speaking on behalf of cooperating partners, German Ambassador to Zambia Anne Wagner-Mitchel said the change in the policy if implemented effectively could trigger strong economic development and improve lives of citizens.
We’ve over delivered, President Hichilema boasts
