Govt contemplates to increase constituency development fund

ZANZIBAR: THE government is contemplating an increase in Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to cope with the rising costs of goods and services, the House of Representatives was told here yesterday.

Minister of State, Second Vice-President’s Office, Policy, Coordination and House of Representatives Hamza Hassan Juma informed the law makers that the government is aware of the rising costs despite the CDF rate remaining static for the past nine years.

Since the establishment of the fund in 2011 with 10m/- annual disbursement, the amount was raised to 15m/- in the 2013/2014 fiscal year and later to 20m/- since 2014/2015 to today.

Answering a question by Wawi Representative Bakar Hamad Bakar who wanted to know the government’s plans to increase the CDF rate to make it more beneficial to wananchi, the minister said the amount will be raised subject to the availability of resources.

The government established the CDF to facilitate people’s social and economic development through financing of small projects in the constituencies. However, the legislators described the 20m/- as too little to have any impact on the development of the people in a year.