adminFunding for the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Media Commission have been erratic since the begining of the year.
Anti-Corruption Commission and ZMC chairpersons Mr Denford Chirindo and Mr Godfrey Majonga yesterday confirmed that they were not receiving adequate funding.
Sources said some officials in the inclusive Government wanted to transfer the powers of these bodies to foreigners by way of funding.
“On recommendation of the Minister of Finance, there has been an instruction to the Anti-Corruption Commission to seek funding from the UNDP. The strategy here is very clear because as you know UNDP does not own money, but it just co-ordinates donor funding.
“The Anti-Corruption Commission has not been getting its daily bread from Treasury all to create a situation where donors can come in with their assistance. But as you recall, this is a critical constitutional body that should not be sponsored by Western interests,” said a source.
The source said the Attorney-General’s Office had since been informed of the proposal by Treasury to enable it to consider the implications of exposing such critical institutions to foreign funding.
“That position has been communicated to the AG and his office is seized with that matter. The fear is not only the bid to compromise the body by placing it in the hands of the piper but also to turn it to an instrument of selective probing for pre-determined political outcomes,” said the source.
In an interview last night, Mr Majonga said: “We have not received any capital funding from Treasury, but sometimes we get money for operations that is for paying salaries and other activities.”
Mr Majonga said if they remained underfunded, they may not be able to achieve their mandate.
He said there was need for Treasury to capacitate them.
Mr Chirindo echoed the same sentiments.
“There is no institution that is getting enough funding and we are battling to get money from Treasury.”
Mr Chirindo, however, said although the Anti-Corruption Commission was not getting adequate funding, it had not received any communication to source external funding.
However, analysts said the ploy to use the Anti-Corruption Commission to settle political scores was once used in Kenya and the idea was to export it to Zimbabwe.
“In Kenya the Anti-Corruption was hijacked by Western countries and it ended up acting on instructions beyond the Kenyan borders. Some officials in the inclusive
Government are trying to import that template to Zimbabwe,” said the analyst.
Another source said constitutional bodies should not be exposed to external funding.
“If you read what is happening in the current Constitution-making process, together with the eagerness by donors to fund constitutional bodies, you will see that there is an attempt to transfer executive powers from the President and Cabinet to constitutional bodies. The West wants this country to be run through commissions.”
It is understood that some Copac officials are pushing for certain clauses that give constitutional bodies a lot of powers and relegating the President to a ceremonial leader.
Efforts to get a comment from Minister Biti were fruitless as he was said to be in a meeting last night.
Online Reporter