FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti says he has been ordered by President Robert Mugabe to make provisions in his 2011 budget for the US$200 million needed to fund a constitutional referendum and possible general elections.
Mugabe’s instruction suggests the Zanu PF leader wants elections to be held next year although electoral officials have indicated that they won’t be ready.
Again observers insist the chaotic constitutional reform exercise, already a year behind schedule, is unlikely to be completed in time for elections to be held next year.
Biti told a meeting with business executives in Harare that Mugabe’s directive was “a disaster from a fiscal point of view” insisting the cash-strapped country could not afford the huge expenditure.
“I spoke to President Mugabe (on Tuesday and) asked him the date of the next election. The long and short of it is that I don’t know but the fact of the matter is that I am going to budget for the election next year.
“That means that US$200 million is already gone in an economy such as this one, which is a disaster if you ask me purely from a fiscal policy point of view. Whether it happens or not, I don’t know but I have to adopt a multi-layered fiscal policy statement,” Biti was quoted as saying by the weekly Independent newspaper.
Zimbabwe is currently drafting a new constitution as part of a raft of reforms agreed under the Global Political Agreement.
Once completed, the draft is expected to be put to a referendum leading to elections for a substantive government.
Biti said officials have indicated that the referendum would cost US$100 million with a similar amount required for any subsequent general elections.
However the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has since conceded it was unlikely to be ready to hold elections next year.
ZEC chairman, Simpson Mutambanengwe recently said the commission was not adequately funded adding more time was also needed to update the country’s chaotic voter register.
In addition, most observers say the new constitution, a condition for participating in the elections by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party, is unlikely to be ready in time for elections next year.
Still, Mugabe has insisted in interviews that the country would hold elections next year whether or not the constitutional reform exercise was completed.