By Isaac Zulu
Former Muchinga member of parliament Howard Kunda says the UPND administration prematurely introduced free education.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kunda said that the UPND government should have engaged in proper planning with stakeholders prior to the introduction of the free education policy so as to avoid compromising on quality education.
Kunda observed that the free education policy is good, but if it is not well executed, it can compromise the provision of quality education.
“This is a good policy which would enhance equity in the provision of education for all Zambians. It is a good policy. However, I feel that this pronouncement was hastily made. We now have overcrowded classrooms, inadequate learning materials and low staffing levels in schools. Do you think that we can have quality education in the given circumstances? We will end up having quantity as opposed to quality education,” said Kunda.
On the CDF, Kunda called for enhanced capacity building of local authorities in the administration of Constituency Development Funds.
He observed that most local authorities are failing to utilise the increased Constituency Development Fund for onward disbursement for the implementation of development projects.
He explained that the fact that local authorities are failing to utilise the increased Constituency Development Fund is an indication that they lack the capacity to administer the K25.7 million allocated for each constituency, which he said has the potential to lead to misappropriation of funds.
“I served as chairperson for the Public Accounts Committee and that time the Constituency Development Fund was only K1.6 million. And the audit queries that used to come on CDF had to do with misappropriation of funds owing to lack of capacity among officers mandated to administer these funds,” Kunda explained. “And now the Constituency Development Fund has been increased to K25.7 million and the scope of work to be undertaken using CDF has been expanded, we have already started seeing councils failing to utilise or absorb these funds because they lack capacity. And it is for this reason that I strongly feel that there should be enhanced capacity building in local authorities so that there is no misappropriation of funds and having situations where development projects stall. For insurance, when I was Muchinga member of parliament, there’s a project that was initiated in my constituency. I told this is when they want to complete it using this year’s Constituency Development Fund allocation. It only goes to show that these local authorities have no capacity to administer these funds so that projects can be implemented effectively and efficiently.”
Credit Picture: News Diggers
