01 Aug 2021

A total of P300 million has been approved for the Constituency Community Programme (CCP) for the 2020/2021 financial year following budgetary constraints and slow implementation by councils from previous financial years.

Local government and rural development assistant minister, Mr Mabuse Pule, said this in response to a parliamentary question recently.

Mr Pule said he was, however, not aware that the CCP had been suspended without consultation with MPs.

“The 2020/2021 budget allocation could not accommodate new projects and was mainly used to cater for the backlog of projects from the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years. The backlog of projects arose from projects that had either not yet started or were still ongoing, at various stages of completion,” he explained. 

He added that as of March this year, a total of P266.6m out of the 2020/2021 budget allocation of P300m had already been disbursed to the different local authorities.

Francistown West MP, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had asked the minister if he was aware that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) had been suspended without consultation with Members of Parliament.

He also wanted to know why the fund was stopped without first consulting MPs and if funds would be released before the end of the 2020/2021 financial year. Ends