As the Specialised Committee for Constituency Development Fund (CDF) at the National Assembly pushes for the allocation in the 2023-2024 financial, the chairperson Peter Lomude has warned Members of Parliament against misappropriating the funds.
Lomude said the fund is not meant for the members of parliament but for the community projects.
“This CDF money is not meant for the individual MPs and it is for the community projects in their constituencies,” he said during an interview with The City Review.
Lomude said the role of the members of parliament is only to supervise the implementation of the projects in their respective constituencies.
“The law does not mandate that a member of parliament be a signatory to any CDF accounts,” he said.
According to Lomude, there were reports of misuse of the funds in the previous years by some MPs.
“I got a story of a particular Member of Parliament who claimed that he was constructing one of the bridges and he went and took some pictures of [another] bridge and he brought to the committee,” he stated.
The chairperson warned that any member who misuses the money will face to face the law according to the CDF Act.
The government budgeted SSP47.8 billion in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budgets for the Constituency Development Fund.
In March this year, President Salva Kiir directed the ministry of Finance to release money owed to Constituent Development Funds (CDF) and warned that the fund, which is meant to spur growth at the grassroots, should be used purely for the intended purpose as he promised to personally take action against those MPs who may misappropriate the money.
Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is the money provided by the government which seeks to improve the effectiveness of Members of Parliament as a designated funding mechanism for constituency projects.
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