By Abel Ikiloni

Blantyre, June 8, Mana: Chairperson of Budget and Finance Committee in Parliament, Gladys Ganda has praised the Blantyre District Council for the teamwork they employed with Members of Parliament and communities, which has led to the successful implementation of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects in the district.

She said this on Saturday after touring projects under CDF and (District Development Fund (DDF) in Blantyre such as Namikango classroom block under CDF and Matandani concretely bridge under DDF.

Ganda said the committee is mandated by the constitution and Public Finance Management Act to play the oversight role on the funding that is channeled to the councils and to do budget tracking, hence the visit.

"So we had to inspect projects under CDF and DDF. As you might be aware, the money for CDF increased from K100 million to K200 million. That's quite a lot of money that needs to be supervised in terms of how it is being utilized. Besides, the councils have DDF and Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) projects.

"For Blantyre District Council, we didn't inspect GESD projects because they have none. For two consecutive years, they didn't receive the funds due to poor performance.

"In terms of CDF, we praise the council for the teamwork because from the presentation they made and on the ground, it was clear that they were working hand in hand with MPs and communities. Under this funding mechanism, we have also seen the bridge that was constructed under the CDF," she said.

Ganda said overall, the councils across the country still have challenges but they are improving from it, every time.

"As a way forward, we would like to convene the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government, and National Local Government Finance so that we can consolidate the information we have gathered. We will check the lessons learned and map the way forward so that at the end of the day, every council should be able to perform well and receive GESD funds for the implementation of infrastructural development projects to benefit the local citizenry," she said.

Speaking on behalf of the District Commissioner (DC) for Blantyre, Director of Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources, Edward Katunga hailed the parliamentary committee for the visit to inspect projects done by the council.

Ganda was joined by members of the Budget Committee, Parliament Secretariat, officials from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government and Culture and National Local Government Finance Committee.