CDF IS A LOOTING EXERCISE AND FEEDING FRENZY FOR THE UPND CADRES
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
We have been disclosing that CDF has become a corrupt, feeding frenzy and utter theft of the fund by and for the UPND cadres.
As soon as President Hakainde Hichilema advised UPND party cadres to register cooperatives to benefit from both CDF and FISP programs, the cadres assumed this was a que to repayment and reward for their 2021 electoral campaign work and have hijacked the fund.
Supply of desks, the grants and loans, contracts for mending roads, building of 1×3 classrooms, building of clinics and health centres, and toilets, have all been hijacked by the cadres and have forced the contract awards to be given to themselves.
The resultant works done are shoddy and criminal in many cases.
In events where Council Secretaries and Town Clerks have attempted to do a professional process, they have been accused of frustrating UPND Government progress and have been harassed, transfered and others have faced protests calling them Patriotic Front members.
Recently terms of tenure for Ward Development Committees members expired, and the re-election has been a UPND affair.
The Ward Development Committees are key to procurement awards in the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
For example, in Mutendere the election of WDC was so violent because area Member of Parliament, Hon. Mike Mposha, gave firm directives that only members of UPND should vote.
Yet this entire process is meant to be a community affair to allow citizens to participate in managing their development and local affairs.
So the shock experienced by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane is laughable.
The looting and abuse of CDF he found in Kalabo and Liuwa Constituencies is normal. He should get a sample done by that ineffective and illegal Auditor General of theirs.
The so-called Auditor General also exposed the looting taking place on CDF and cited in his 2023 Audit Report.
