Africa-Press – Zambia. LUNTE PF MP Mutotwe Kafwaya says government’s decision to increase the Social Cash Transfer means it has created a lot of suffering.
He says the only way citizens can survive is by receiving money through the social protection programme.
“Madam Speaker, you are owing people who are in the middle class K84 billion and then you are saying next year in 2026, I’ll only pay you K4.7 billion, and on the other hand you are saying you need to create jobs. The Minister spoke clearly here and said the jobs that we so desperately need have to be created. How are you going to create jobs when you are holding money for small and medium enterprises who are dealing with government? And I heard one colleague of mine saying those who will not support this budget, they are trying to circumvent people from getting Social Cash Transfer,” said Kafwaya.
“Let me tell you Madam Speaker, when you increase Social Cash Transfer, what you are telling the people is that that means we have created so much vulnerability, we have created so much suffering that the only way people can survive is for us transferring some money to them. Instead of doing that Madam, I would rather you pay suppliers of goods and services, by the way those include farmers, they are suppliers of goods and services, pay them, so that they maintain the jobs, so that they expand the scope for jobs Madam Speaker. Now I won’t end at just speaking like this I’m going to help the UPND government into the 2026 budget by ensuring that we give dismantling of arrears a decent amount but if they don’t want it’s their fault. For me, I’ll move amendments to this budget”.
Meanwhile, Kampyongo insisted that constituencies had only received about K6 million out of the K36 million yearly allocation of CDF.
“Madam Speaker, the so much talked about CDF here is what your report is saying, ‘your report appreciates the increase in the Constituency Development Fund to K6.2 billion translating to K40 million per constituency. The committee is concerned about persistent delays in the disbursement and the low absorption capacity [by] local authorities’. Madam Speaker, even as we speak now, the CDF for this year 2025, I sympathise with the Minister of Local Government who is trying but the Minister of Finance hasn’t given him money. Up to now, we have only received about K6 million out of the K36 million. So we are two months before the fiscal year ends,” said Kampyongo.
“When are we going to receive the balance of the funds for the projects that are supposed to be done? At that rate, how much time do we have to come and burn out? Even when you are complaining about the absorption capacity of the councils, what are they going to do if they receive money 30 days before the end of the fiscal year? This is a challenge, Madam Speaker.
So you can say CDF… I stood there when this was coming and I did indicate that we were still going to have a challenge, so it’s one thing to say we have increased in the meantime we can’t even feel what is already in the budget for this year. So the Ministry of Finance must be sincere when he comes to this August House and when he is trying to increase the figures of these funds because talking figures is exciting but implementation is very key”.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
