Government says it has no money to print voters roll

By Henry Makiwa
31 October 2007

Next year’s crucial elections hang in the balance after the government said it has no money to print the voters’ roll. A senior government official on Tuesday told parliament that the Registrar-General’s Office responsible for elections had inadequate funds for the exercise.

Presenting an audit before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs in parliament, chief accountant in the RG’s Office Edwell Mutemaringa said government requires Z$3,5 trillion before the end of the year to print the voters’ roll. He added that the department has received only Z$110 billion from the fiscus.

The development has raised widespread concerns over the holding of the crucial polls, upon which high hopes of a political turn-around are pinned.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) on Wednesday described the situation as “unfortunate”.

Noel Kututwa who heads ZESN said: “Constitutional Amendment number 18 created additional constituencies, meaning that there has to be a new delimitation exercise and a new voters roll to reflect the new constituencies. If there are no funds it means we will go into the election with a voters roll that does not reflect the new scenario and some voters may be prejudiced; and some may fail to exercise their right all together.

The alternative will of course be to use identification cards only, as we did in 1980. We will however need to use efficient indelible ink on voters’ hands so that they do not cast ballots twice or more.”