Katete District Council accused of misapplying funds

Milanzi Constituency Member of Parliament White Banda says there is need for Katete District Council’s workers to be sensitised on how public funds should be spent.
Mr. Banda says failure to do so will make ordinary people in Katete district to continue suffering.
ZANIS in Katete reports that the Parliamentarian said this in an interview after he attended the second full council meeting yesterday.
He said that he had just learnt from concerned Mkaika and Milanzi constituency officials that some unscrupulous individuals at the council were in the habit of reckless spending and breaking procedures on government funds.
He said money meant for developmental projects was instead being used on wrong events, a situation that has led to stagnation of some projects in the district.
Mr. Banda said he had information on how the council had misapplied funds on the 19th of June 2015 when it hosted the ground breaking ceremony of a bus station construction project.
He explained that Mkaika and Milanzi Constituencies had contributed about 650 thousand Kwacha for the construction of the bus station from their CDF, Constituency Development Funds but to their surprise the council is alleged to have gotten part of that money to host the ground breaking ceremony.
Earlier during the sitting, Mr. Banda grilled the council chairperson Abraham Zulu and the council Secretary on how much money was spent during the ground breaking ceremony of the bus station and where the funds came from.
In response the council chairperson Abraham Zulu said procedures were not followed, an answer that only infuriated the Member of Parliament and some concerned councillors.