Mzimba - in the heart of Mzimba South East Constituency, a story of dashed hopes and broken dreams in the implementation of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) unfolds.

Around Kabua, an area located about 300 kilometers from Mzimba Boma,  a house meant to serve as the residence for the Primary Education Advisor (PEA) has become a symbol of bureaucratic bungling and corruption. 

Since construction began in the 2022/2023 financial year, the project has stalled, with a staggering K19 million already paid to the contractor. The only visible output is construction up to window level, a haunting reminder of the dashed hopes of the community.

The unfinished PEA residence is not the only project in Kabua that has suffered a similar fate. The girls’ hostel at Kabua CDSS, launched in 2016 as a beacon of hope for girls walking over 30 kilometers to access education, remains crippled and unfinished. 

This is Despite K52 million being allocated to it in the 2022/2023 financial year alone, the project has barely inched forward, leaving the girls in the village to continue walking long distances to access education.

The hostel, meant to provide a safe haven for these girls, has become a monument to the callous indifference of those entrusted with managing the Constituency Development Funds (CDF).

Yolamu Banda, is the chairperson for Kabua Citizen forum. Banda is not amused with the turn of events.

Said Banda, "As a community we don't know what is happening in these projects, we only know that money was paid to the contractors but they are not being completed, but will do everything it takes to ensure that the projects are completed"

CDF was introduced in 2009 with the sole aim of funding small-scale development projects in constituencies across the country. The initial allocation was K1 million per constituency per year, with the figure increasing to the current  K200 million.

Chairperson for Kabua Sub are development committee, Andrew Longwe is also frustrated.

Longwe says in every project implemented using CDf resources, their committee is sidelined. They don't take part even in project identification.

Said Longwe," We are not involved as a local governance structure we only see the MP delivering materials and a building taking shape without any related discussions during our committee meetings, the MP himself does not even attend"

In Mgoza, in the same Mzimba south Constituency, a borehole draws our curiosity. According to district council records, this borehole was constructed using CDF funds at a cost of K6 million.

However, upon deeper investigation, it turns out the borehole was actually constructed by African Parks as part of its social responsibility.

Elias Kamanga a resident of the area is baffled. Kamanga like many others wonders how a bore hole drilled from the goodwill of African Parks has been credited to public coffers.

What happened to the money meant for the borehole from the CDF allocation? Kamanga wonders aloud.

From Kabua, we move to Chimphonde in the area of Inkosi Khonsolo. Here, the construction of the Kambindingu Bridge hangs in limbo. 

Two pillars and jagged steel bars are the only visible signs of the K9 million already spent. The bridge was intended to improve mobility and bring social services—such as healthcare—closer to the people of Chimphonde and Khonsolo. Instead, it has left the community frustrated.

Clement Kamanga, who chairs Khonsolo citizen forum says K9 million has already ended up in the pockets of the contractor, according to records they obtained from the council. Kamanga says the work on the ground does not reflect the sums of money paid to the contractor.

Said Kamanga, " As you can see this is where K9 million was paid but do you see the type of work that was done here, it clearly shows that money went down the drain, though the works are of substandard at least construction should have been completed because we find a lot of challenges during the rainy season"

The irregularities in CDF project implementation are not confined to Mzimba South East constituency. Similar issues have surfaced in other constituencies. 

Kasongolo bridge in Mzimba Luwerezi constituency for example, has been abandoned by the contractor despite over 80% of the allocated funds already paid to the contractor. The project began in the 2022/2023 fiscal year and was pegged at K4.1 million.

Just like in Mzimba South East, the Phazi Girls Hostel is also taking ages to complete.

Austin Zimba, who also chairs Luwerezi citizen forum tells us the contractor only started working on the bridge and left, leaving logs lying by unattended.

Said Zimba, " We don't know why he left, there has been no explanation whatsoever, we are disappointed, the council which is supposed to make follow ups on such issues has done nothing but our records show that the contractor was paid part of the money and did this substanfard work in front of us"

Allan Chitete is the man at the helm of public works at the Mmbelwa district council. Chitete is the director of public works.

He admits that some projects are indeed uncompleted. Chitete somehow says this maybe due to the way CDF resources trickle down to the councils.

He acknowledges the stalled PEA house at Kabua. He says council records show the contractor was paid MK11 million out of a total cost of K27.7 million in the 2024/2025 financial year

As for the girls’ hostel at Kabua CDSS, Chitete says the council has approved an additional K49 million on top of the K53 million allocated in 2022/2023 to complete the project.

On other projects like Kasongolo and Kambindingu bridges, Chitete concedes that they are not completed and adds that they have summoned the contractors for Kambindingu bridge to explain what is halting the project after being paid K14 million.

He also says they are aware that the construction of the Phazi hostel leaves a lot to be desired.

Said Chitete, "The hostel is still at roofing level with a substandard roof structure as the contractor used smaller sizes of timber than the recommended, the structure is not treated against ant and termite attack. Floor slab and room partitioning not done.Overall assessment shows poor quality of structure with bending side walls, therefore not qualifying for further payment until the contractor makes good of the poor workmanship"

On why the council has been making payments for substandard projects and other uncompleted ones, Chitete was no commital.

Former Member of Parliament for Mzimba East, Ackson Kalaile Banda, says the findings of this report are exaggerated. According to him, projects like the Kabua CDSS girls’ hostel only require some finishing touches. 

Kalaile Banda said The contracts are awarded by the council and any payments made to contractors are verified by the council hence they better placed to comment on the progress and standard of the works.

Similarly, former MP for Mzimba Luwerezi, Sam Chirwa, disputes the findings of this investigation. He says he will organize a site visit to showcase what has been accomplished using CDF.

Chirwa says the Kasongolo Bridge project stalled because of the failure of the council to pay contractors. And that work at Phazi hostel stalled because the community did not want the designs which the contractor was using to construct the hostel.

Said Chirwa, "When I was MP I did my part in fact I am the only MP that did a lot of development in the Constituency, but for Kasongolo bridge it's the council that failed to pay the contractor and he left while at Phazi CDSS, the community influenced by other people who were fighting me politically disrupted work at the hostel claiming they did not like the designs"

Chirwa says the contractor Mbapapi construction is locked in a court battle with the council to pay him for what the later describes as substandard work.

Willy Kambwandira, Executive director for the Center for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT), says revelations of irregularities in CDF implementation in Mzimba vindicate their own findings of minimal accountability in the use of these funds.

Said Kambwandira,"There is no accountability and no monitoring of CDF projects by the councils themselves, largely due to intimidation by politicians when it comes to implementation of these projects.

But proper sanctions should be taken on those violating guidelines"

Kinnier Mlowoka is the chairperson of the governance committee of the Mzimba CSOs network who are implementing an accountability project tracking the implementation of CDF projects in the district. Mlowoka is equally concerned with the revelations.

Said Mlowoka, "We will make sure that tax payers money has been accounted for, there is need for contractors to explain why those projects have stalled, we will also see to it that all the projects are completed, we want value for money because government has committed to be providing CDF to improve service delivery so diverting or abusing such funds will not be condoned"

In the upcoming financial year, the new DPP government administration has pledged to increase CDF allocations to around K5 billion per constituency. While this increase is welcome news, the funds may not benefit the intended communities if poor implementation and oversight persist among responsible stakeholders.