HARARE - THE financially-beleaugured Constitutional and Parliamentary Committee (Copac) has received a much-needed US$10 million shot in the arm from the cash-strapped Government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), we can now reveal.
The Government gave US$5 million while the UNDP chipped in with another US$5 million for the broke constitutional-making process which has caused numerous headaches for everyone, including the three Principles of the Global Political Arrangement (GPA).
The three GPA Principles are namely, President Robert Mugabe of the former ruling party, Zanu PF, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the now ruling MDC-T (Tsvangirai) party, and current Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara ousted and former boss of the splinter MDC.
“The Project Board is very greatful for the commitment shown by the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) through its recent contribution of another US$5 million, making a total of US$12,5 million in direct cash contribution to this process, as well as contributions in kind in terms of providing logistical support, office accommodation and secondment of staff in the provinces during outreach,” Advocate Eric Matinenga, a Member of Parliament of the MDC-T (Tsvangirai) party and current Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs said in a stament on behalf of the government.
The statement was also signed by C Umtoli on behalf on the UNDP among the contributors to the very broke Copac for its activities.
“We are also very pleased to announce that donors supporting the process have further contributed another US$5 million through the UNDP,” the statement said.
“These contributions from Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) are in addition to the US$12 million already provided by the 11 contributing donors, including the UNDP.”
The donors said they hoped the cash would help “implement the plans for the remainder of the Constitution-making process”.
“The implementation of this process is an important step towards fulfillment of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and hence an important contribution to the development of the country,” the staementsaid.
Meanwhile, the Copac Project Board overseeing the Constitutional-making process said it had approved “the activities to be carried out during the Second Quarter of 2011”.
Post published in: News