By Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa Friday left the country for a 36th ordinary session of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday amid a flurry of criticism back home after failing to officially publish the final the delimitation report of ward and constituency boundaries.

Mnangagwa received the report from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on February 3.

The constitution states that within 14 days after receiving ZEC’s final delimitation report, the President must publish a proclamation in the government gazette declaring the names and boundaries of the wards and constituencies as finally determined by the electoral board.

He was expected to have done that by Friday and, instead, left for Ethiopia without publishing it.

He posted on his official Twitter account that he was working on trying to strengthen relations with other nations to make life better for Zimbabweans.

“We are working on closer trade links across the continent, making everyday life better for every Zimbabwean citizen,” Mnangagwa said.

ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba

Meanwhile Mnangagwa’s administration claims he has not received the final delimitation report from ZEC despite the electoral board chairperson Priscilla Chigumba saying they had done so.

“We have reprinted hard copies of the preliminary report in line with those corrections and we have resubmitted those to the president who has the mandate to gazette the final delimitation report within 14 days of today,” said Chigumba at state house just after submitting the report.

Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba claimed he has not received the report.

Exiled former minister Saviour Kasukuwere accused Mnangagwa of “constitutional delinquency” on Twitter.

Citizens Coalition for Change spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere also wrote on Twitter: “We demand strict adherence to the Constitution regarding the gazetting of the Final Delimitation Report. It remains a scandal for elections to be held under the 2007 boundaries that don’t comply with the requirements of s161 of the Constitution.”