The funding to selected MPs not adding up

Government has organised parallel funding for development projects to 86 selected MPs, largely drawn from the ruling DPP, UDF and PP.

Each of the 86 MPs will receive K40 million and by the end of the day the national kitty will cough up K3 billion drawn from taxpayers’ purse at Treasury The funding is neither Constituency Development Fund (LDF) nor Local Development Fund (LDF), two legal vehicles for funding development in constituencies across the country.

Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe says the 86 MPs asked for the projects that range from school blocks and market shelters to police units and clinics But one MP we have spoken to has disputed this and insisted that although he cannot refuse development, he never asked for the money for his constituency.

At best this does not add up and at worst it is outright discriminatory because there are no clear criteria on how the 86 constituencies have been picked and why the other 107 constituencies were left out.

That is why the assertion that government is rewarding the 86 MPs, as a fulfillment of the promise President Peter Mutharika made when he met them at the State House to ask them to reject the six electoral bills, makes complete sense.

The question that Malawians who wish their country well should be asking themselves is simple: Is this the way development is going to be distributed and apportioned in this country? The K3 billion that the Finance Minister is sharing among the 86 MPs from largely DPP and PP was paid into the national kitty by all Malawian taxpayers from Nkhotakota to Mchinji and Chitipa to Nsanje.

There is an acceptable way of allocating development and the biggest factor is the need as dictated by population, among others. Clearly, this is not the case as party affiliation and some form of loyalty largely came into play.

In simple words, the K40 million that the 86 MPs are getting for the projects in their constituencies is a gratification for something else.

In a fair and just country where accountability institutions are truly up and running, this would have been a matter that called for an investigation and those responsible held to account.

But this is a Malawi we live in where shenanigans and discrimination based on political affiliation are the order of the day.

We cry for a fair, just and straightforward Malawi.