Parliamentarians have been urged to ensure that the number of people who are to benefit from projects implemented though their Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is realistic in relation to the amount of money requested.

The charge was issued by head of the CDF implementing unit Kedesha Campbell at a meeting of the CDF committee at Gordon House on Tuesday. “Because you choose two or three or four million [dollars] for a project, you have one or two thousand beneficiaries [and] if you divide that for the benefit you’re giving, sometimes it works out to $1,000 or $2,000.

What we’re saying is, if you are making a project, say for welfare, the minimum should be about $6,000 or $7,000 or if you’re doing food packages, $10,000 the minimum.

You can’t just put a random figure or choose big figures because you want to make it look good. It’s a weakness that I’m seeing; we like the big figures. So I’m seeing a lot of beneficiaries, but if you should do the math it doesn’t make any sense,” Campbell said, pointing out that when project documents are audited, beneficiary numbers are scrutinised against the funds allocated.

Regarding the voucher system that was implemented by the CDF and used by some Members of Parliament (MPs), committee chair Juliet Holness urged members to state the items which beneficiaries are allowed to purchase, in order to prevent misuse of public funds.

“It is good to pay attention to stipulating the items that the vouchers are allowed to purchase so that persons understand that I’m not allowed to go and buy rum and cigarette; I’m not allowed to go buy caviar because the [money] is for the basic food items of rice, flour, sugar, and the works.

It is really pressuring on MPs, we should take every opportunity to have our constituents understand that is not that we don’t want to give them rum… or we don’t want to give them Boom, but this is not what the Government’s resources is used to buy,” she stressed.

St Catherine Eastern MP Denise Dailey said she, too, was wary of abuse of the voucher system by some people.

“That, again, is going to create another kind of work for me to make sure that I look at the invoices to make sure they are in compliance with what the CDF and the [implementing] agencies would ask for,” she said. “We have to make sure because I remember once, that even with book vouchers, if you not careful some of them even go and sell it.”

State minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Homer Davis, noted that retail items are particularly expensive in rural areas, but said he has found means of stretching the CDF allocation.

“Normally, the shopkeepers, their food comes in 25 to 30 per cent more expensive than if I purchase it at the wholesale. I try to elasticise my money,” he said.