By Isaac Zulu
The 2022 National Budget speaks to our party manifesto, says Chrizoster Halwindi Phiri
In an interview with Daily Revelation, Phiri, who is Kabwe Central Constituency Member of Parliament, observed that while in opposition, the UPND pledged to ensure that there will be devolution of Cabinet functions to lower established government structures, which she said is now being actualised in the 2022 National Budget that has seen the decentralisation of the disbursement of Constituency Development Fund.
She explained that by decentralising the administration of CDF to District and Constituency level, residents in different localities will be accorded an opportunity to participate in the identification of development projects to be implemented in their localities.
“This is what we were talking about even during our campaigns that we want to take development closer to the people. And if you look at our party manifesto, we want to actualise decentralisation. We want to ensure that community anchored development is actualised. We want to ensure that people themselves decide what projects should be prioritised and implemented in their communities,” Phiri explained. “The decentralization of the disbursement of the Constituency Development Fund to local level is, therefore, the right move in the right direction. Actually the 2022 National Budget speaks to our party manifesto.”
She noted that the practice of waiting for central government to disburse CDF was delaying the execution of development projects in communities, which she said was contributing to most projects becoming white elephants.
“Previous we used to depend and wait for Central Government to release funds meant for development projects, even for the construction of a small clinic. The replies used to take long because you had to wait for the responses. And the process was taking long,” Phiri observed. “And if you start a project and its completion is delayed, it will stall. That is what led to most projects becoming white elephants. But this time around, we will see the much needed development.”
She has since encouraged residents in Kabwe Central Constituency to ensure that they participate in the identification of development projects that should be prioritised in their localities.
Meanwhile, Phiri has urged residents regardless of their political affiliations, in her constituency to ensure that they form cooperatives so that they can benefit from the empowerment programmes that will be rolled out in the newly created Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
“When empowering people, it’s prudent that you cluster them as a group and not a single individual because they will be able to share ideas and provide the human resource for their cooperatives,” she said.
Phiri continued.
“And this perception that only members from the ruling party should benefit from empowerment programmes should end with the previous regime. We want all the Zambian people to benefit from the government’s empowerment programmes. Equitable distribution of national resources is cardinal in uniting people. That’s what we want as UPND… we do not want to segregate people based on their political affiliations because we are all Zambians.”
The Kabwe Central lawmaker further challenged her fellow women to participate in development programmes that would be rolled out by the UPND administration.
