CDF: Give legislators basic accounting skills

move saying it would bring change in their constituencies.
The MPs also called for the programme to continue if Zimbabwe is to be developed.
But alas, what are we seeing now?
Some Members of Parliament have been accu-sed of abusing the Constituency Development Fund with some legislators reportedly failing to account for US$50 000 allocated to each of them last year.
The default has prompted Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga to say that he won’t hesitate to name and shame those MPs who have not accounted for the money they got.
It’s sad to learn that as of Thursday last week only 133 Members of Parliament had been recorded as having filed their returns.
We don’t expect that the minister will go that far to publish names of defaulting MPs. MPs should be responsible enough to account for the funds.
It was a noble idea that this fund was set up. The CDF was established by Government last year to allow legislators to spearhead development programmes in their areas.
The Government set aside US$8 million for the programme. It was the expectation that in June, legislators, among them Cabinet Ministers, would furnish Government with accounts of how they spent the money.
However, the initial deadline lapsed. So far no offending legislators have been named. Many voters will be interested in that.
Everyone knows that the love for money is the root of all evil.
But what is confusing and maybe what many Zimbabweans are failing to understand is why the money was given specifically to the legislators?
Can the MPs fully account for each and every dollar of the US$50 000 they were allocated? What mechanism or statute is the Government using to ensure that the funds are channelled towards their intended use?
Perhaps these are some of the questions that concerned Zimbabweans are failing to get feedback on.
Some legislators were allegedly excluding councillors in the disbursement and management of funds.
They have been accused of preferring to work with a selected few “favourite councillors” in violation of the funds requirements.
While some legislators have put the money to good use, the same cannot be said about other MPs whose lifestyles have suddenly changed, raising eyebrows on their source of money.
The responsible ministry should tell the MPs that they should be careful when dealing with public funds and the message should be properly communicated.
The fund, which is expected to go up to US$66 000 per legislator this year, should only be available to those who have submitted their returns.
The ministry should give proper guidelines for the execution of the development programmes.
Some legislators have complained that when they were given the money, they did not all receive it at the same time. They feel that they should not be expected to submit their reports at the same time as those who got funds earlier.
We wish to commend those legislators who have embarked on development projects in their constituencies, especially in the rural areas.
Some projects have changed many people’s livelihoods, especially in the area of education and healthcare.
We therefore feel that there is need for more funds to be allocated to rural constituencies because their needs are different from their urban counterparts.
Urban constituencies are small. Rural constituencies have so many needs because they are generally underdeveloped compared to urban constituencies.
The CDF is very useful because now an MP can reach out to his constituency through development projects unlike in the past when they only visited constituencies during election time.
The fund has also filled in the gap, where Government did not provide small development projects. The funds are supposed to be used in development projects like drilling boreholes, repairing schools and clinics and buying transformers among other projects.
Everyone wishes to see the programme continue so that the country can develop.
Failure to account for the money is tantamount to punishing the electorate for the sins of their lawmakers, as one condition for the issuance of the funds was that those who fail to account would not receive additional funding this year.
In the meantime, we call on the Government to come up with an Act of Parliament concerning the CDF. This is one of the weaknesses of the fund as it lacks an enabling legislation.
MPs should also be equipped with the necessary skills to record and account of the money. In some cases MPs will fail to account for the money not because they stole it but they were just ignorant of the accounting procedures.