By Mercy Matonga:
Some members of Parliament (MPs) have raised concerns over the delay in announcing Constituency Development Fund (CDF) guidelines, saying the development may affect the implementation of projects following the passing of the 2026-27 national budget.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, MP for Msinja South, Francis Belekanyama, asked the government, through Leader of the House Jappie Mhango, to indicate when the CDF guidelines would be made available.
He said, with the budget expected to take effect on April 1—which was yesterday—the funds might be spent without proper involvement of all stakeholders.
“The money will be channelled to councils but the councillor is not there, the MP is not there, and even the ADCs [area development committees] are unavailable. It is just the District Commissioner handling everything. This is chaos,” Belekanyama said.
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He added that the issue of reformed CDF guidelines was not about politics but governance, emphasising the need to know the allocation for each service, which he described as a “big gap”.
In response, government spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said the guidelines would be made available at the right time.
“This is not a political issue; it is wrong to make the CDF a political matter. The government understands the importance of the guidelines and we cannot implement CDF [projects] without them,” Namalomba said.
He acknowledged that the government’s financial year starts on 1st April and that councils were currently using funds from the previous budget.
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Last year, President Peter Mutharika instructed Minister of Justice Charles Mhango and the Minister of Finance to issue guidelines for the implementation of the CDF.
