Sanctions must be removed, says Chihuri

Evelene Taadira Herald Reporter
THE West’s illegal sanctions should be removed as they are causing untold suffering to vulnerable groups, among them orphans and widows, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri said yesterday.Comm-Gen Chihuri said this during the Commissioner General’s 2013 Horse Race, an initiative meant to raise funds for orphans and widows of late members of the force.

“The illegal sanctions have had great harm to our economy and ordinary people and they should be lifted.  It boggles the mind therefore that the sponsored detractors consider orphans and widows as spoiling in the agenda of illegal regime change.” he said.

Comm-Gen Chihuri expressed hope that the livelihoods of orphans, widows and other vulnerable groups would improve since Zanu-PF is alone in Government.

“Vulnerable people had been terribly neglected during the period of the Government of national unity. As a matter of record, benefits accruing to the orphans and widows of the late members under the state service pension fund were simply ignored.

“We are therefore happy that the recently held harmonised elections ushered in a people’s government sensitive to the plight of orphans and the less privileged,” he said.

To date, 400 orphans are benefiting from the Commissioners’ welfare fund. Comm-Gen Chihuri said there was a need to sustain the programme until the orphans were old enough to fend for themselves.

“The flicker of hope ignited in the beneficiary’s heart should not be chopped midstream,” he said.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi hailed Comm-Gen Chihuri for helping orphans and widows of late members of the force.