Hwange Central Member of Parliament (MP), Daniel Molokele has challenged Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube to timeously release the 2022 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocations to enable legislators to embark on meaningful developmental projects in their constituencies.
In his ZWL$927.3 billion budget for next year unveiled last month, Ncube allocated the Parliament ZWL$14.6 billion covering CDF and other needs.
“We now know that Parliament has got issues such as CDF, where people in communities are expecting Members of Parliament to come up with development projects that are of high impact,” said Molokele in Parliament recently.
“To my surprise, most of the time the CDF that is allocated is very small and it cannot make any high level impact in communities. Even that small amount is not coming on time. So this year we are allocated ZWL$2 million each, but it came in the second half of the year and some have not received their CDF allocation as of now. So, most of that allocation has already been affected by hyperinflation.”
He went on to challenge the Finance Minister to do better next year.
“For 2022, the Minister needs to make sure that it does not happen,” he said.
“Hon. MPs are operating offices, three years after the Minister promised that there will be allocation of funds to ensure that at least they have constituency level offices, support staff, allowances to do their work in constituencies, this has not yet happened. This is crippling the capacity of Parliament to work as the third arm of the State.”
He added: “For 2022, we are challenging the minister to ensure that this comes to an end. Parliament must be fully empowered. Parliamentarians must be fully empowered to ensure that they play their role in a very effective way.”
