Chipata council accused of holding on to CDF

Chipata Municipal Council has been accused of dragging its feet to process procurement for project materials under CDF, Constituency Development Funds.
Speaking to Breeze News, councillors from some constituencies complained that projects have stalled because the council is delaying to finalise the procurement process.
The civil leaders wondered why the council is delaying to procure materials because some constituencies like Kasenengwa have not received CDF since 2013.
But Chipata Municipal Council Public Relations Officer, Taonga Kaonga attributed the delay to lack of staff in the procurement department.
Ms. Kaonga explained that the local authority has only one procurement officer, who is supposed to attend to all projects.
She stated that the CDF procurement procedure is long as it involves getting quotations from the start of the project to the end of the project, which must be in triplicate.
Ms. Kaonga however, indicated that the local authority is making every effort to ensure that the process is quickened.