ABOUT CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND (CDF): DISSECTING PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA’S FLAGSHIP ‘ACHIEVEMENT’

ABOUT CONSTITUENCY DEVELOPMENT FUND (CDF): DISSECTING PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA’S FLAGSHIP ‘ACHIEVEMENT’

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. Whenever we challenge those in the ruling UPND party to point at any achievements made by President Hakainde Hichilema during his time in office so far, one of the items they normally put first on the list is the increased allocation of Constituency Development Fund or CDF as it is commonly referred to. This fund was increased from K1.6 million per constituency in the 2021 National Budget to K25.7 million in the 2022 National Budget, and subsequently to K28.3 million in the 2023 National Budget. But did these increments really translate into any actual improvement in the wellbeing of the Zambian people? Let us look at the details to find out.

2. When the CDF budget was K1.6 million per constituency, the scope of CDF was to address minor community emergency requirements, as the community waited for the appropriate Government Department to respond to their needs. In other words, CDF was like pocket money for the Constituency. For instance, when there is a drought and the people cannot access water from wells, CDF would be used to install some boreholes in selected areas as the people wait for the Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation or the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing or DMMU to respond with longer term water solutions for the area, such as building a dam.

3. However, when President Hakainde Hichilema decided to increase the CDF allocation from K1.6 million to K25.7 million in the 2022 National Budget, he also increased the scope which CDF needed to cover, to include (I) education bursaries, which was initially under Ministry of Education (ii) operational costs for Health Centers, which was initially under the Ministry of Health, (iii) infrastructure development, which was initially under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing (iv) recurrent and capital expenditure for Police Stations, which was initially under the Ministry of Home Affairs, etcetera. In other words, the President merely moved budget lines from respective Ministries to CDF.

4. But the million-dollar question that we need to answer at this moment is; was the increase in the scope and responsibilities of CDF commensurate with the increase in the allocated budget? This question is very important because if the answer to the above question is no, then the Zambian people are worse off today with a CDF budget of K28.3 million than they were in 2021 when the CDF budget was K1.6 million, but the Constituency did not have to fund activities under the Ministries of Education, Health, Infrastructure and Home Affairs.

5. In order to fairly and accurately answer the above question, let us look at a practical example. The last time motor vehicles were bought for the Zambia Police across the country was in 2010, under the leadership of President Rupiah Bwezani Banda. At that time, each and every Police Station received a Toyota Landcruiser single cab, which were all painted a dark blue color. This time around, Government has decided to buy motor vehicles for the Zambia Police. But instead of buying these motor vehicles under the Ministry of Home Affairs and allocating one to each and every Police Station across the country, as President Rupiah Banda did in 2010, President Hakainde Hichilema has decided to buy these motor vehicles under the Constituency Development Fund. He has allocated one vehicle per constituency, instead of one vehicle per Police Station.

6. The problem with President Hakainde Hichilema’s approach to resource allocation is that in most urban constituencies, there are several Police Stations in one constituency. Take the example of Lusaka Central Constituency, it has three mother stations being Lusaka Central, Woodlands and Twinpalm. Similarly, Munali Constituency also has three mother stations being Chelstone, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe and Mtendere. Chongwe Constituency has four Police Stations being Airport, Ngwerere, Kanakantapa and Chongwe. So under the current dispensation, you have three or four Police Stations sharing one vehicle allocated to the Constituency, whereas in the previous dispensation, each Police Station was allocated with one vehicle. Maybe we can now go back to our initial question; are Zambians better off or worse off under CDF?

7. Let me tell you a short story. Once upon a time, there lived Mr. Bwalya who was married to Bana Bwalya and together they had 6 children. Mr Bwalya had a well-paying job and lived well with his family mumayadi. The family’s main expenditure items per month were home groceries = K10,000, school fees = 15,000, house rent = K7,000 and pocket money for Bana Bwalya = K3,000. The total household expenditure was therefore K35,000 per month. Every month, Mr Bwalya would buy the household groceries, pay rent and also pay school fees and only give his wife her K3,000 cash for pocket money. However, along the way, Mr. Bwalya decided to change the model for running his home. Instead of giving his wife K3,000 he increased it to K33,000. But in turn, Bana Bwalya would have to pay for the house rent = K7,000, school fees = K15,000 and buy groceries for the household = K10,000. However, after Bana Bwalya met all her increased expenditure obligations, she only remained with K1,000 as her pocket money, compared to the K3,000 that she would have as pocket money under the previous dispensation.

8. On the other hand, Mr. Bwalya went around the entire neighborhood boasting to his friends that he had increased the monthly allocation to his wife by more than ten times. Every time Mr. Bwalya boasted to his friends, he deliberately omitted to mention that he had also increased the monthly expenditure obligations to Bana Bwalya. In fact, the increased obligations were higher than the increased allocation, to the extent that Bana Bwalya was now worse off as she only had K1,000 as her pocket money, compared to K3,000 under the previous dispensation.

If you want to substitute Mr. Bwalya for President Hakainde Hichilema and his CDF scam, please go ahead. Anyway, the Future is SET ✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼

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SET 09.06.2024