Stakeholders query CDF guidelines delay

Stakeholders, including members of Parliament (MPs) and accountability institutions have queried government’s delays in coming up with guidelines for the implementation of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). In January this year, President Peter Mutharika ordered the Ministries of Justice and Constitutional Affairs alongside that of Finance, Economic Planning Decentralisation to develop new guidelines. However, the guidelines are yet to be made public.

However, in February Secretary for Local Government and Rural Development Moses Chimphepo suspended preparatory activities for implementation of the Reformed CDF, to allow all stakeholders to participate in the exercise, especially MPs. In an interview yesterday, Dowa East MP Richard Chimwendo Banda (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) said the situation was delicate because councils were using funds, especially those of the 2025/26 fiscal year without guidelines. He said: “In some instances, we hear councils asking MPs to authorise certain payments and others seek guidance from councillors.

“This is dangerous because these controlling officers may find themselves in trouble at some point for using the money without guidelines. It’s, therefore, important that we have these guidelines.” Rising on points of order in Parliament on Wednesday, several lawmakers warned that the absence of guidelines risks undermining accountability of the Reformed CDF allocated to each of the country’s 229 constituencies. Lilongwe Msinja legislator Francis Belekanyama (MCP) said the delay threatens effective governance, saying guidelines are key to proper implementation.

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Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba has said government will not release funding for the K5 billion Reformed CDF without a framework. In the meantime, Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) executive director Hadrod Mkandawire has said local authorities are using general mechanisms and frameworks of implementing and managing local level projects in handling CDF. But yesterday, Centre for Social Transparency and Accountability executive director Willy Kambwandira said continued use of CDF resources without updated guidelines exposes public funds to misuse, weakens accountability, and undermines value for money. No fresh comment could be sourced from inistry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation yesterday, but in February the ministry’s spokesperson Williams Banda said in February that development of guidelines was at an advanced stage, and that they were moving towards stakeholder engagement.

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