Paulwell Calls for Constituency Development Fund to Be Doubled

Phillip Paulwell says the 20 million dollar allocation for Jamaica’s Constituency Development Fund is too small to meet residents’ needs and should be doubled.

The Kingston East and Port Royal MP made the appeal at a back-to-school ceremony at his constituency office on Windward Road, where laptops were distributed to students who completed the Primary Exit Profile examinations.

Paulwell said his constituency could spend only 5 million dollars from the fund on its back-to-school programme, with another 3 million dollars coming from the Education Ministry. He said his office also had to seek roughly 1 million dollars elsewhere, but described the total as inadequate for the demand for assistance.

“

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 students who receive their examination results late in August are particularly difficult to support. The programme must submit names weeks before the final results arrive, leaving some students out of the assistance process.

“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,” Paulwell said. He also backed calls from other lawmakers for the CDF contribution to MPs to be doubled. Last week, St Andrew South West MP Angela Brown Burke called for a 50% increase, saying constituencies needed more funding to respond to residents’ needs.

“

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.