Speaker demands Constituency Development Fund abuse report
Speaker of Parliament, Richard Msowoya, has ordered the Public Accounts Committee (Pac) of Parliament to liaise with Ministry of Finance and the office of the Auditor General to provide the House with a report on the abuse of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) by some Members of Parliament
Msowoya made the order in response to a concern that Member of Parliament (MP) for Mwanza Central Davis Katsonga raised Thursday morning on the need to look into the matter and bring the culprits to book.
Katsonga said he is of the view that the statement which President Peter Mutharika made when opening the current Parliament session, on the lawmakers’ accountability was directed at the office of the Speaker.
“All I did was to remind the Speaker that the Executive has spoken for the Legislature to do what is right; to make sure that those that have abused the CDF are brought to book.
“Out of 193, only 20 are alleged to have abused the fund, but the bottom line is that we have to prove that and relevant laws must be applied,” he said.
Then Msowoya said the report should be in the chamber before the current meeting ends.
“It is important that we are able to stand straight and be searched. As we watch others it is important to watch ourselves as well,” he said.
Mutharika accused the MPs of abusing the funds when he opened the current sitting on Friday last week.
“I hear the people are complaining that some of you are abusing Constituency Development Fund… I hear people are crying that some development projects are not completed because their Member of Parliament has abused CDF,” he said.
Treasury said its Central Internal Audit Unit’s report shows that K84 million of CDF was misused.
Pac Chairperson, Alekeni Menyani, was not immediately available for comment.
But in October 2017, Menyani accused Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe of failing to furnish the committee with the report, hence failure by the committee to probe the matter.
Treasury Spokesperson Davis Sado earlier said the report is not ready for Parliament scrutiny.
He said a separate committee was instituted at Ministry of Local Government to analyse the information and produce a final report.
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