AN appeal earlier this month by Everald Warmington, former chair of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Committee of Parliament, that money to be made available to the members of Parliament (MPs) for the three new constituencies added last year, has borne fruit.

The three new constituencies: St Catherine South Central, St Catherine East Central and St James Central, held, respectively, by Opposition MP Dr Andrew Wheatley and Government MPs Denise Daley and Lloyd B Smith, were created following boundary changes carried out by the Electoral Commission last year. This was done prior to the December 29 General Election, which saw the formerly 60-seat House of Representatives moving to 63.

Warmington, during the first meeting of the committee — which is now chaired by Government MP for Eastern Hanover Dr DK Duncan — had requested that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller be petitioned for funds from the CDF to be made available to the three new MPs for the last quarter of the parliamentary year.

The CDF, which is managed out of the Office of the Prime Minister, assists members of Parliament to meet the needs of their constituents and was originally known as the Social and Economic Support Programme under the previous administration of the People’s National Party (PNP).

The name as well as some aspects of the programme were changed when the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration came to power in September 2007. Under the present arrangement, each constituency is allocated $20 million to be administered by the MP.

At Tuesday’s sitting, Dr Duncan said each of the three new constituencies would be given $3 million, a total disbursement of $9 million.

“I didn’t actually need to go to the prime minister because the consultation was first with the minister with responsibility for the fund, Natalie Neita-Headley, who informed me that at the Cabinet retreat prior to our meeting [that] she had raised the same matter with the ministers and approval was given for exactly what you said here. So that is now in order and I suppose that will be reflected in the Supplementary Estimates,” Dr Duncan told the Sunday Observer.

However, Moveta Munroe, executive director of the CDF unit, in response to a question from Warmington as how much was left in the fund, told the committee that the unit did not have more than that $9 million left.

“I think the outcome that was desired will be achieved because we have been assured by the responsible minister that prior to our last meeting she had made those representations and gotten at least preliminary approval for the three constituencies,” Dr Duncan offered as assurance.

He also sought to lay to rest concerns of the Opposition’s North East St Catherine MP, Shahine Robinson, who said it was not just the three new constituencies that are without funds, but also those new members of Parliament who inherited their constituencies without any cash left in the coffers by the representatives who held the seats before the election.

Dr Duncan said his information was that the leadership of the unit had already discussed this situation with all the new MPs.

“…They got an understanding that where the original consents are concerned, only what is left from money not spent they can use, and there will be no additional funds for them. The point made by member Warmington and agreed prior to this by Minister (Neita-) Headley is that the three new constituencies for this quarter would be allocated $3 million each,” Dr Duncan said.

“What I ask the new members of Parliament to do, as we have been doing, is come in and sit with us, let us look at what residual money is left in the implementing agencies. And it is amazing what we have been finding,” Munroe added.