Harare, (New Ziana)-The government has been urged to disburse the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) and save legislators from incurring bank charges for maintaining the dormant accounts, which have not been credited with any monies in the past three years.

Epworth North Member of the National Assembly Zivai Mhetu made the call in the august House last while debating a motion he had moved on a matter of national importance.

The CDF is a government program designed to allocate funds to all elected legislators to support development in their constituencies. “I rise on a matter of national importance regarding the Constituency Development Fund accounts opened by Members of Parliament. These accounts, however, are accumulating debts,” he said. ”

As you may know, since 2023, we have not received the Constituency Development Funds that are meant to drive development in every constituency.

As required, we opened accounts to ensure the smooth and transparent transfer of these funds.

Banks charge license fees based on the number of accounts they service, even if the accounts remain inactive. Consequently, banks continue to impose charges because they are being charged themselves.

” Mhetu urged the government to compel banks to exempt CDF accounts from service charges until it deposits the funds. “Some of us are using our hard-earned personal funds to maintain these accounts, and we have reached a breaking point. I have here a bank statement showing the payments I have made to keep the account active, despite knowing the difficulty of opening these accounts in the first place,” he said.

He further warned that when CDF funds are eventually deposited into the dormant accounts, the accumulated bank charges could consume a significant portion of the funds.

New Ziana