By Pemphero Malimba:
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Victor Musowa has called on Members of Parliament (MPs) to strengthen accountability in the management of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) resources.
Musowa said the funds must be protected from theft and abuse and stressed that effective oversight is essential to ensuring transparency.
“Oversight has to go where money has gone because our role is oversight on government expenditure. If we sit in Lilongwe without following where the money has gone, we will not be able to achieve the goals of CDF,” he said.
Musowa was speaking in an interview after gracing the closing ceremony of a three-week training programme for 49 MPs at the Malawi School of Government (MSG) in Lilongwe.
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The MPs formed the first cohort of a parliamentary training programme aimed at strengthening the capacity of legislators.
He said the newly introduced CDF guidelines must be properly implemented to prevent misuse of funds.
“Let us put the guidelines to the test. We will oversee them. The community will give us feedback. What comes out there is for us Malawians. If there is a need for the CDF guidelines to be reviewed or improved, we will look into that in the future,” he said.
MSG Director General Lewis Dzimbiri said the training programme is expected to improve service delivery through enhanced skills and competence among MPs.
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“We want to see everyone performing their roles. Service delivery in this country will certainly improve. To do that we have to build capacity, skills, knowledge and competence. That is why the Malawi School of Government exists,” Dzimbiri said.
He said MSG is expanding its programmes to target different categories of public officers, including MPs, parastatal chief executives, district commissioners and senior government officials, to improve performance in the public service.
Nkhotakota Liwaladzi MP Thokozire Lunji Chanju said the training has equipped MPs with knowledge that will improve their oversight role in constituencies.
The MPs were trained in governance, democracy and human rights, national development planning, global geopolitics, national budget and public finance and ethics, among other areas.
In the 2026-27 budget, CDF is pegged at K5 billion per constituency.
