The United Party for National Development (UPND) youths in Kitwe district have appealed to the Town Clerk to quickly develop a strategy of highlighting the procedure for accessing the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to youths and the vulnerable in the district.
UPND Kitwe District Youth Chairman Bowas Kapata noted that councilors and ward development committees in the district have not done enough to educate the people on the grass root on how to access the CDF.
He has since challenged the councilors to conduct sensitization meetings in their communities where people can be guided on how to access the CDF and other empowerment opportunities that government is providing.
“We are very concerned with the existing ignorance among youths on how to access the funds which government has rolled out to benefit the youths and other vulnerable people in society,” he said.
Speaking to ZANIS in Kitwe today, Mr. Kapata said without a proper sensitization strategy, youths and several vulnerable people will not access the increased CDF money which people are supposed to benefit through developmental projects.
Mr. Kapata has however announced that the youth wing will soon initiate sensitization meetings to try and educate their colleagues on the available government empowerment programs especially those under CDF.
Several stakeholders have expressed worry on the lack of information on the procedure to access CDF and other empowerment opportunities that the government is providing which has resulted in a lot of people failing to access these empowerment initiatives.
On Tuesday this week, Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Augustine Kasongo directed Heads of Government departments in the province to ensure that they remove all bottlenecks to the access to CDF.
This was in response to the low number of people that have applied for CDF funds in various councils, a situation that has been attributed to the cumbersome procedure and lack of information among the general public on the procedure.
