PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa is under fire and faces a potential lawsuit for alleged abuse of public funds after buying vehicles for the controversial Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) platform members.
Mnangagwa’s office used over US$1 million to purchase
vehicles for at least 19 principals of different political parties who
participated in the 2018 elections, but dismally lost.
The purchase angered different sections of Zimbabwean
society who feel that it was wasteful and illegal for Mnangagwa to do so,
especially when the government has been unable to fund the health sector or
improve public service wages.
Polad principals have also been pampered with diplomatic
passports and have been promised farms.
MDC deputy national chairperson, Job Sikhala yesterday told
NewsDay that it was possible to sue Mnangagwa and the government for using
unbudgeted public funds to procure the Polad vehicles.
“It is very much possible to take legal action on the
grounds that the money used to buy the vehicles was not budgeted for through
the Finance Bill to do with the budget, which is passed into law every year
during the budget debate. This expenditure is not known where it is withdrawn
from,” Sikhala said.
He also told a State media platform that it was possible to
effect a citizen arrest on the beneficiaries of Polad vehicles.
But Zanu PF legal affairs secretary Paul Mangwana yesterday
dismissed Sikhala as ignorant of governance processes.
“He doesn’t know anything. He needs to go to a school of
governance to understand how a government functions. He doesn’t even know how a
national budget operates, and it is unfortunate that he is saying that in
public instead of seeking understanding first,” Mangwana said.
“There is a lot of discretion that is given to the
President to use resources allocated to him, and so I am sure that is what was
utilised. Nothing illegal was done, but
let him (Sikhala) try it (taking legal action).”
Recently, one of the beneficiaries of the Polad vehicles,
and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Lovemore Madhuku (pictured)
was taken to task to clarify the budget vote from which the money to purchase
the Polad vehicles was drawn from.
Madhuku told journalists that the vehicles would be used by
the 19 beneficiaries to campaign for the 2023 elections, and for Polad
business. Newsday
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