Hands off LDF, CDF—MPs told

The Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central African Presbytery (CCAP) has called on politicians in the country not to dip their hands into and politicise constituency and local development fund projects.

Project Officer for the Voice of Livingstonia (VOL), Franklin Mumba, said on Wednesday that politicians take advantage of the ignorance of communities about the technicalities of the two funds, such that resource misappropriation is inevitable.

According to Mumba, the status quo permits incumbent Members of Parliament (MPs) to be at the centre of events during project implementation which most of the times compromises progress.

“We would like to champion access to information on project funds among the citizenry, so that they know the limits of the political leaders. Many are the times when politicians have claimed monopoly of public projects and citizens have cried foul in the end,” said Mumba.

He thus said through its public expenditure tracking project, the VOL seeks to widen the knowledge base of locals on issues that directly affect them.

“We would like to deal away with political interference by empowering the grassroots. Furthermore we want to ensure accountability at council level because we realise most councils have soiled reputation when it comes to finance management,” he added.

But in his remarks, senior auditor for the Mmbelwa District Council, Micheal Mwachilare, said multiple factors contribute to project failure or delay.

“Project implementation is complex, as duty bearers we meet so many challenges in the communities not to mention those which are very lazy. Unfortunately our friends from organisation will just listen to those and start pointing fingers,” Mwachilare said.

According to Mwachilare, the coming in of democracy has bred dependency syndrome among people at the expense of hard work which is key in issues of development.

With finance support from National Democratic Institute through Tilitonse Fund the VOL will for the next 14 months to embark on special radio programming in vernacular focusing on the dynamics of LDF and CDF.