Zikhale engages community on CDF roll out

The community are key stakeholders in any development and their voice matters when it comes to mapping constituency projects.

Homeland Security Minister, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma who is also member of parliament for Nkhata-Bay South constituency brought together Head-teachers, and Primary Education Advisors (PEA) drawn from all the three zones of his constituency and urged them to continue working hard in order to sustain quality education.

The Saturday meeting centred on key issues affecting quality service delivery in the education sector in Nkhata-Bay South constituency such as a huge need for more teachers houses, schools blocks, and other pertinent teaching and learning materials.

In an interview with the Malawi Daily Telegraph, the Homeland Security Minister emphasized on the need to involve key stakeholders in decision-making on how best to use the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

It is against this background that education officials drawn from various schools within Nkhata-Bay South constituency met to discuss with their Member of Parliament, (Ken Zikhale Ng’oma) on what they think should best be done in the education sector using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“The meeting aims at discussing and indeed mapping the way forward on how best the CDF can help promoting education in the constituency, recently, President Lazarus Chakwera’s led government doubled the CDF from K100 million to K200 million so that Malawians fully benefit from the national cake through various developments initiated in their respective constituencies” Said Zikhale.

Motivated by the gesture, PEA for Bandawe Education Zone, Tinkhani Mphande thanked Zikhale Ng’oma for giving teachers such an opportunity to provide input on how the CDF can best be utilized to develop the education sector, saying such opportunities are rare.

“It is very rare for a parliamentarian to seek views from the serving teachers and PEAs, the Minister has clearly demonstrated his strong desire to ensure quality service delivery in the education sector using the CDF,” Mpande said.

During the meeting, teachers also took advantage of the meeting with the Homeland Security Minister to lobby for promotions, trainings, and education visits, saying such are some of the factors of motivation in their service delivery.

The meeting with teachers comes a few months after the Parliamentarian also met chiefs to map the way forward on how best the CDF should be utilized in the 2024/25 fiscal year in line with the country’s Agenda 2063.