The donor organisations that are funding the Constitutional Outreach Program have come under heavy criticism for pouring money into a process that the NCA says they knew was flawed from the beginning.The harsh comments came after it was reported that the parliamentary select committee managing the process has said they needed $5 million more, in order to extend the outreach exercise by 2 weeks. Douglas Mwonzora, co-chairman of the Constitution Parliamentary Committee (Copac), said the additional funds would cover the cost of extending the exercise in Harare and Bulawayo, where dates were cancelled back in June after suspicions that disruptive elements were planning to influence results by packing the meetings.
Meetings at several venues around the country have been cancelled due to confusion and mismanagement of funds that were allocated to the outreach teams to use for travel, accommodation, fuel and food. ?Lovemore Madhuku, who chairs the National Constitutional Assembly which has been campaigning for a new people driven constitution for Zimbabwe, said that Copac is not credible, because the people in charge are corrupt and the donors can only blame themselves.
Madhuku said: What we saw in the beginning, which the donors also saw at that time, is the fact that the people who are running Copac are a dishonest lot. I think most of the ZANU PF people that have for the past 20 years been responsible for plundering the resources of this country were put in charge of Copac. Donors were aware of that.
He added: Which donors do not know Patrick Chinamasa, or Nicholas Goche, or Joseph Chinotimba, who are members of that board of the outreach team. The donors were simply trying to take a gamble, just hoping that somewhere along the line there would be a process of getting Mugabe out.? Madhuku agrees that there is a need for a new constitution in Zimbabwe, but says donors need to find a way of ensuring that their funds are used for the specified purposes.
Post published in: News