Editorial Comment: The 2026 National Budget: Impressive figures, troubling realities
MINISTER of Finance and National Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane last Friday unveiled the 2026 national budget amounting to K253.1 billion, an increase of K36 billion from the 2025 allocation of K217.1 billion. At face value, this is a bold and ambitious financial plan meant to sustain Zambia’s economic recovery and provide greater resources for social and economic development.
Of particular interest in the 2026 budget is the increase in the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation from K36.1 million in 2025 to K40 million per constituency next year. On paper, this looks like a positive step that should translate into more roads, clinics, schools, and other much-needed projects in rural and peri-urban areas. The spirit behind the policy is commendable: decentralisation of development and giving communities the power to decide their priorities.
But here lies the contradiction: Government is yet to address glaring inefficiencies, corruption, and incompetence in the administration of CDF as highlighted in the Special Audit Report for the year ending December 31, 2023, released by the Office of the Auditor General.
The report paints a disturbing picture. Despite successive increases in allocations, less than 42 percent of the CDF earmarked for community projects was utilised. A staggering 53 percent remained unspent. Even more troubling, eight of Zambia’s 10 provinces recorded project utilisation rates below 50 percent, while all provinces failed to utilise even 60 percent of the funds available.
This means that, despite the billions being poured into CDF, the money is not reaching the people it is meant to help. Communities continue to wait in vain for boreholes, clinics, and classroom blocks while funds lie idle or are lost through irregularities. For a government that has repeatedly pledged to take development closer to the people, this is an indictment of its failure to translate policy pronouncements into tangible outcomes.
Nkana Member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu’s remarks in Parliament recently underscore this problem. He disclosed that in 2025, his constituency only received K4 million out of the K36.1 million budgeted, and in 2024 only 20 percent of the allocation was released. “This makes MPs look like they are not working,” he said, and rightly so. What credibility does the government expect to have when it announces impressive allocations year after year but fails to release the funds to back them up?
The timing of this increase in the CDF also raises questions. With the nation heading to a general election in 2026, one cannot avoid the suspicion that these budgetary pronouncements are meant to woo voters rather than genuinely strengthen development at constituency level. The danger of hoodwinking citizens with promises that are never delivered is that it breeds cynicism and erodes public trust in government institutions.
If CDF is to succeed, three urgent steps must be taken. First, government must overhaul the disbursement system to ensure funds are released on time and in full. Second, the capacity of local structures to plan, manage, and account for funds must be strengthened, backed by effective monitoring. Third, culprits identified in the Auditor General’s report must face the law. Without enforcement, corruption will thrive, and the CDF will continue to be a cash cow for a few rather than a lifeline for many.
Zambians deserve more than impressive figures in speeches and glossy documents. They deserve real development that changes lives, builds communities, and restores confidence in governance. A budget that announces K40 million per constituency but delivers only a fraction is not a budget of hope—it is a budget of broken promises.
As the country looks to 2026, we call on the government to match its words with action. If the CDF is to be the flagship of decentralisation, then let it work for the people—not as a political tool, not as a statistic for budget speeches, but as a genuine driver of grassroots development.
