FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact : Cheelo Katambo: Deputy Media Director – UPND
Email: info@upnd.co.zm
WILFUL FAILURE TO UTILISE CDF IS A CRIME.
June 02, 2023
LUSAKA – From the onset,we wish to call on the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Hon Gary Nkombo MP to immediately use powers vested in him through the Constituency development fund Act to dissolve the Shiwang’andu Constituency Development Fund Committee for the willful failure to utilise its K25,7 million 2022 allocation.
We further call on the Local Government Service Commission to immediately recall its senior management officials at Shiwang’andu Town Council for failing to provide technical leadership in the utilisation of the allocated funds.
The UPND as a party in government finds this willful failure to utilise the funds resulting into the none implementation of CDF projects in the district as noted by Senior Chief Nkula as an act of sabotage which is punishable by law. Listening to the Senior Chief bemoaning the lack of CDF utilisation in the constituency, has sent shivers down our spines as Government is doing all it can to ensure that community development takes precedence in its development agenda.
Why should we still have our children sitting on the floor due to lack of desks while roofs of classroom blocks have been blown off and remained unattended to, yet we have a member of parliament and his CDF committee.
Mr.Stephen Kampyongo and his CDF committee should be ashamed of themselves that they have failed to take advantage of the government’s good indiscriminate intentions aimed at providing development resources to every part of the country.
What does Kampyongo and his CDF committee stand to gain by sabotaging government programs aimed at uplifting the standards of living for the people of Shiwang’andu. The UPND feels the pain of the Chief and the people of Shiwang’andu hence our call for immediate action from Hon Nkombo and Hon Ackson Sejani. The Country cannot continue along this trajectory of politicking even on matters that border on community development.
Our rural areas have for a long time remained under- developed because past leaders which included Mr Kampyongo never saw the potential that lies in those areas. We sympathise with the Chief who sees the suffering of his people on a daily basis while his MP is dinning and winning in Lusaka despite having huge sums of developmental funds in the constituency account.
To re-echo the words of the UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda, the party shall not hesitate to recommend to Government the immediate dismissal and prosecution of officers found wanting in the failure to utilise funds meant for development.
Sabotaging government programs is a crime and punishable by law. We therefore call on law enforcement agencies to move in and establish exact circumstances under which pupils in Shiwang’andu are still sitting on the floor and community projects have remained unattended to.
We call on District Commissioners and party structures to get vigilant in their monitoring of CDF activities across the country and not allow enemies of community development to sabotage well intended policies. This scheme aimed at agitating citizens into rising against the government shall not work and the party across the country is asked to rise and make sure this behavior is stamped out.
Through the office of the Secretary General, all structures across the country are placed on high alert into monitoring the performance of CDF and other developmental projects. Our Key Performance Indicators in 2026 will be based on how we implement flagship policies such as the CDF, free education and others and any poor implementation by the technocrats should not be tolerated.
We wish to commend our Secretary General Batuke Imenda on his position and wish to reiterate that the party will not hesitate to recommend for remedial action against saboteurs of government policies aimed at easing the people’s hardships. This goes out to all local authorities and CDF committees across the country. Implement our policies as espoused in our guiding document or we shake each other good bye.
Opposition Members of Parliament are urged to take centre stage in the implementation of these government policies for the good of our people and avoid being in the forefront sabotaging them. This is not about UPND but the people of Zambia and their development cycle.
For now we demand action against all players involved in the Shiwang’andu CDF debacle. For Shiwang’andu District Commissioner, your failure to provide leadership even after a Presidential directive to have you and others be part of CDF is a source of concern to the UPND as a party in government.
To Senior Chief Nkula and other Traditional leaders living with saboteurs, the UPND sympathise with you but help is coming.
(C) UPND MEDIA TEAM