adminWhat this means is that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission which runs both the referendum and the harmonised elections should have started preparations for the two national events.
Government should have by now released the required funding for both the referendum and the elections.
ZEC has already said it requires $220 million to fund both the referendum and the elections but it has been allocated $50 million in the 2013 National Budget.
The commission can only be able to run a credible referendum and elections if it is allocated adequate resources on time.
There is a lot of preparatory work involved and all that requires money and the $50 million allocated is just too little to say the least.
What makes it even worse is that Treasury is yet to release the little money.
The referendum is just a month away and preparations for this national event should have been in full swing by now.
ZEC should have by now mobilised the required material, identified the required personnel, worked out all the logistics involved such as transport and polling stations.
Time, we have to admit, is fast running out especially if the referendum is going to be in January.
The ZEC chairperson for public relations and communication committee Dr Petty Makoni is optimistic that Government will avail the required funding on time to enable the commission to fulfill its mandate.
What is however comforting is that Dr Makoni said instead of just waiting for Government to release the funding first, ZEC has already started preparing for the referendum and elections.
Dr Makoni said various activities have been lined up ahead of the two national events.
She said ZEC had already covered a lot of ground work in terms of training and capacity building of its staff through the United Nations Development Programme funding assistance.
Dr Makoni said ZEC had conducted multiple stakeholders’ workshops to sensitise the various participants on the electoral process.
What ZEC has covered so far is very crucial for the smooth conduct of both the referendum and elections but preparations for the actual referendum and elections is yet to start.
This can only start when Treasury has released the required funding.
The elections are wholly funded by the State and as such Government cannot look up to donors for assistance.
It might be too late to wait for the proclamation of referendum and election dates to mobilise the required funding, which as already stated, involves huge amounts of money.
The same Treasury which is supposed to mobilise the required funding for elections and referendum is yet to pay enumerators who participated in the 2012 population census that was conducted last August.
The referendum and elections are very important national events and as such we need to adequately prepare.
ZEC should be afforded ample time to put in place systems that will guarantee a credible outcome of the referendum and elections.
Government should avoid what happened during the August population census when the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) at one time ran out of census material.
We want to once again implore Government to release funding for the referendum and elections as soon as possible so that come January and March, it’s all systems go.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter