Nomination Fees: Use education not money to screen candidates says Munyanduri

Nomination Fees: Use education not money to screen candidates says Munyanduri

New Patriotic Front (NPF) leader Tendai Peter Munyanduri has urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to use education in screening Presidential candidates and not money.

Munyanduri’s suggestion comes at a time when ZEC has pegged nomination fees for presidential hopefuls at US$20 000.

Most opposition parties in the country are not able to raise the required US$20 000 for nomination fees. The Political Parties Financing Act also forbids political parties from getting outside funding.

The Act which is deemed unfair forbids political parties in the country to get funding or donations from foreigners.

The same Act, however, awards political parties that get at least 5% of Parliamentary seats with funding from the treasury.

Currently, only Zanu PF and MDC Alliance have been sharing the funds.

In an interview, Munyanduri said using education to screen candidates is the only objective criteria.

‘’They should use education as a screening tool for Presidential candidates and not money. For example, ZEC may say for one to qualify as a Presidential candidate you must have a minimum of a master’s degree. That is a more objective criterion than using exorbitant nomination fees.

‘’With US$20 000 in Presidential nomination fees, it is only the three unashamed lawyers who are stealing and looting public funds in the name of the Political Parties Finance Act who will be on that ballot paper facilitated by stolen and looted public funds,’’ he said.

Three lawyers trying to block other candidates

The self-styled politician who once promised to give citizens eggs and bacon every day if he wins the 2018 general election, says President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Nelson Chamisa, and Douglas Mwonzora are conniving to block other parties as they fear defeat.

Munyaduri said it was not fair to have lawyers only on the Presidential ballot paper. He said other professions deserve an opportunity as well.

‘’The announced nomination fees are a cowardly act by the infamous lawyers Mnangagwa, Chamisa, and Mwonzora. They are afraid of competing with us because they know we will beat them in a free and fair election.

‘’These lawyers are not ashamed to have a ballot paper with only lawyers in a country of more than 20 professions.

According to Munyanduri, the country should be led by an engineer because engineers understand infrastructure development. He says Mnangagwa and Chamisa cannot deliver, a modern transport system and bullet trains respectively. He says they are not engineers and they don’t know how it works.

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