Kalulushi – May 8, 2025.
Kalulushi Municipal Council has to date received K13,970,474.68 under the Cash for Work initiative since its inception in September 2024. This was said yesterday by the Town Clerk, Betty Liswaniso, at a stakeholders engagement meeting held to review the implementation of Cash for Work, Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and to validate the CDF guidelines.
Ms. Liswaniso said of the K13,970,474.68 released by the government, the Council has since expended K11,155,315.63 and has a balance of K2,815,159.5 for the beneficiaries yet to be engaged.
The Town Clerk said the Council saw it fit to hold this engagement meeting before further recruitments of beneficiaries in order to improve the overall implementation of Cash for Work in the district.
She added that considering the amount released by the government into Cash for Work, it is expected that the works done by the beneficiaries in the field should also correlate with this amount disbursed.
Ms. Liswaniso added that following this meeting, it is expected that all individuals involved in the recruitment committee should be active and that personal interests should not interfere with the recruitment process and guidelines for Cash for Work.
“There should be full participation of all the committees mandated to engage beneficiaries, and Cash for Work is intended to benefit all vulnerable but viable people affected by the drought during the 2023/2024 farming season; it should not advantage only a few members of the community,” she said.
Speaking at the same meeting, Cash for Work Chairperson and Kalulushi District Commissioner, Kelly Jibinga said the district has done well and achieved success in the implementation of Cash for Work, but there are also challenges that need to be addressed.
Mr. Jibinga noted that the district has identified several grey areas in following due processes when identifying beneficiaries for Cash for Work.
“Using our records, we have seen duplicates of beneficiaries, which may have been done deliberately by those mandated to recruit,” he said.
He further emphasized the need for sincerity in the recruitment process and that the New Dawn Government means well through this initiative. However, if the implementers are compromising the process, then they will render the whole initiative questionable.
“Government wants to cushion the lives of our people and have as many people benefiting from this program. From the analysis made, some cash for work beneficiaries were also found to be participants in other government programs, despite the clear guideline that cash for work beneficiaries should not be on other government programs” he said.
In closing, the District Commissioner called on participants to also raise community awareness about maintaining cleanliness and advocate for behavioural changes. He noted that if areas are cleaned by the beneficiaries and the community continues to dispose of waste indiscriminately, this results in beneficiaries repeatedly cleaning the same places, thereby minimizing the benefits of the Cash for Work initiative.
The meeting brought together a diverse group of participants, including Kalulushi Member of Parliament and Mayor representatives, Councillors, Heads of government departments, CDF committee members, ward development committee members, data entry clerks, among others.
