KINGSTON, Jamaica — Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston East and Port Royal, Phillip Paulwell is calling for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to be doubled, arguing that the $20 million allocation is not enough to address the needs of residents.

He made the appeal while speaking at his back-to-school ceremony at his constituency office on Windward Road on Wednesday, where laptops were issued to Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students.

“I’m making a special appeal to the Government: the $20 million that is allocated for the CDF, that alone should be dedicated to education…So I’m supporting the calls from a number of colleagues that we should be doubling the CDF contribution to MPs, and that will enable us to provide more resources,” he said.

According to Paulwell, he was only able to spend $5 million from the CDF towards back-to-school efforts, with another $3 million from the Ministry of Education.

“I want to also say that in relation to our back-to-school effort this year, we only were able to spend $5 million from the CDF and a further $3 million from the Ministry of Education, and your MP was able to beg another million or so. But that is a drop in the bucket for the demand that is there for assistance,” Paulwell said.

The MP said more money is required to assist students, especially those who receive examination results in late August.

“Many students only received their exam results a few weeks ago, back last week, and those are being left behind because the programme that we have here, we have had to submit names weeks ago before the final exam results. So to enable me to assist more students, and especially those who get their results in late August, we need more money,” he added.

Just last week, MP for St Andrew South West, Dr Angela Brown Burke, called for a 50 per cent increase in the CDF saying additional funding is needed to better respond to the needs of residents in the constituency.

READ: WATCH: Brown Burke calls for 50 per cent increase in CDF