(NEWZIMBABWE, AP) No money for elections: Biti
No money for elections: Biti14/03/2012 00:00:00
by AP
FINANCE minister Tendai Biti said Wednesday that elections cannot be held this year as President Robert Mugabe wants, because Zimbabwe is broke. Biti told reporters his ministry only has cash for a nationwide census in August and a referendum on a new constitution scheduled around the same time.
“A sum of US$37, 2 million is required to carry out the 2012 Population Census. A provision of US$22 million was made in the 2012 National Budget for the exercise,” he said. “The balance of US$15,2 million will have to be sourced, also targeting development partners."
President Robert Mugabe has called for elections this year to end a fragile three-year coalition with the former opposition of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The coalition was formed in 2009 after disputed and violent elections in 2008.
The finance ministry is controlled by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party under the power-sharing deal.
Mugabe has insisted
[Really. 'Mugabe has insisted...'? This is what passes for 'objective reporting' at the AP? - MrK]
that “money has to be found” for elections to go ahead this year, with or without a new constitution. Tsvangirai says elections can only be held after constitutional and election reforms are complete.
[So in true TEA Party style, they are holding the elections hostage to their own demands. - MrK]
Mugabe, 88,
[How old is Tony Hawkins? - MrK]
has been nominated by his Zanu PF party as the sole presidential candidate in the proposed elections. Biti on Wednesday likened the census and the referendum to elections, in terms of expenditure.
“We have provided money for a referendum and also going to have elections in the form of a census,” he said. “So we are going to have two elections. We can’t afford a third election.”
The finance ministry was this year promised $600 million from the sale of diamonds, but Biti says he has so far received just over $19 million.
“Diamonds have to deliver...we are being crippled by their under-performance,” Biti said.
[Drama queen. - MrK]
Government employees have embarked on series of strikes this year over pay demands that Biti insists can only be met by improved payments into state coffers from diamond revenues.
Rights groups have also expressed concern that the unaccounted-for diamond revenue could be used by Mugabe’s party to finance violence and intimidation in the proposed elections.
[Also known as 'singing for their supper'. - MrK]
They have accused diamond mining companies of lacking transparency and accountability in their operations.
Since the military, loyal to Mugabe,
[Well, with him being the head of state 'n all. Who would the AP like the military to be 'loyal to'? The IMF? Washington DC? - MrK]
took control of the diamond fields in 2008, Zimbabweans with diamond interests have bought luxury cars and opulent homes.
[Politics of envy. Why don't they point out all the ordinary people who received land, instead of claiming land went to 'friends and cronies of Mugabe'? And now they claim the diamonds are going to 'Zimbabweans with diamond interests'? Where is their proof? And where were they when the Zimbabwe people's diamonds were owned by the likes of Andrew Cranswick, or Anglo-American De Beers, and were shipped right out of the country? - MrK]
The boards of the mining companies include executives who are retired and serving police and military officers.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC CORRUPTION, NEOCOLONIALISM, ROBERT MUGABE, TENDAI BITI
posted by MrK @ 7:46 PM
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