The Constituency Development Fund has not been cut, State House said in a statement reported on Tuesday 13 October — only the way it is paid out. The clarification came after Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane had said that the 2027 allocation would be lower than initially budgeted, as the Treasury worked to contain this year’s overspend, and that the Food Reserve Agency would receive no Treasury money next season because it had bought more maize than was budgeted.
Clayson Hamasaka, State House Chief Communications Specialist, said the CDF allocation ‘has not been reduced and remains at 40 million kwacha per constituency’, the Zambian Observer reported. What the Government had done, he said, was realign disbursements according to each constituency’s needs and its ‘rate of absorption’. News Diggers carried the same message: the fund stands at K40 million, with releases adjusted to need.
The FRA stays in the market
Mr Hamasaka also said the FRA would continue to buy maize for the national strategic reserve next marketing season, in line with its mandate, and that the proposed changes did not mean the agency was leaving maize purchases altogether. The FRA, he said, was never created as a crop marketing agency; the Government intends to set up a dedicated crop marketing entity with private-sector participation to find export markets for surplus maize, as part of a Grow Zambia Agenda target of ten million tonnes.
The two statements are not easy to reconcile in full. Dr Musokotwane spoke of a 2027 allocation below what was budgeted, with councils to be informed; Mr Hamasaka speaks of an unchanged K40 million with disbursements re-timed. Neither statement, as reported, gives the figure councils will actually receive in 2027. That will become clear only when the 2027 Budget is tabled.
The opposition’s reading
Stephen Kampyongo, the NRPUP MP for Shiwang’andu and a former Home Affairs Minister, said in an interview on Monday that a cut would make it hard for MPs to meet the public’s expectations, which he said the UPND Government had itself raised through its promotion of the fund, News Diggers reported. He called the reduction unfortunate.
K806.1 million for the fourth quarter
In the same week, the Treasury released K806.1 million in school grants for the fourth quarter of 2026, in a statement issued through the Office of the Secretary to the Treasury on Monday and reported by Zambia Monitor and News Diggers. The release, made within the first two weeks of the quarter, completes the year’s provision of more than K2.3 billion for free education. The money goes through the Ministry of Education to government-supported public schools for school feeding, teaching and learning materials, learner support and infrastructure maintenance.
Dr Musokotwane directed accounting staff in schools to provide timely and accurate financial guidance and called strict compliance with public financial management regulations ‘mandatory and non-negotiable’, Zambia Monitor reported. Misapplication of funds, unauthorised spending and failure to account for public resources would not be accepted, he said; the Ministry added that the success of the grants would be measured by learning outcomes, not by the amounts disbursed.
Sources: Zambian Observer, “State House Makes Clarifications on FRA and CDF” (13 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “CDF still at K40m, govt has only adjusted disbursements based on needs – Hamasaka” (13 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “Cutting CDF will make it hard for MPs to meet public expectations – Kampyongo” (13 Oct 2026); Zambia Monitor, “Zambian govt boosts free education with release of K806 million for Q4” (13 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “Govt releases K806.1m for school grants” (13 Oct 2026).