MDC MP claims senate row linked to dispute over foreign funding

By Violet Gonda
24 October 2005

The senate debate has taken another turn with the latest accusations coming from the legislator from St Mary’s, Job Sikhala. He alleges that the row over the issue of the senate is linked to a long running dispute over foreign funding.

Sikhala said his party received half a million US$ in funding from Ghana and Nigeria (foreign funding of political parties has been made illegal by the ruling party). But these claims have been dismissed by MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai who has been quoted saying "Sikhala is prone to such outbursts which do not help the party. It is a mere allegation but unfortunately he speaks as if it is a fact. We cannot lose sleep over that.”

The claims are the latest blow in a bitter grudge threatening to split the main opposition apart. Observers say this is a wildcard being thrown in by one of the factions to discredit the other. Outspoken political commentator, Professor Stanford Mukasa says what is happening in the MDC is very characteristic in any nationalistic struggle. He said, “The accusations and counter accusations are really a culmination of hostilities that have been buried beneath the surface of the seeming unity among party members, but there is a great deal of intra-fighting that has an historical background.”

MP Sikhala said members of the MDC’s top six – whom he reportedly described as “primitive factional warlords” – were busy fighting for the money that came from Presidents Obasanjo and Kuffour who, allegedly, each gave US$250 000 to the MDC for unspecified purposes.
The MP said this was not the first time that his party had come close to being destroyed over donor funds, saying three years ago sharp differences erupted over US$2 million that had come from the government of Taiwan.

Professor Stanford Mukasa believes that in such nationalistic intra-factionalism fighting, truth becomes the first casualty, making it difficult to tell what is really happening.

He also said there has always been a lack of cohesion and lack of accountability in Zanu PF and Zapu over donated funds, which had a habit of disappearing.