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Public Outreach Phase of Zimbabwe Constitutional Rewrite Pushed Back a Day


Parliamentary Select Committee Co-Chairman Douglas Mwonzora said the start of the public outreach input phase is being pushed back a day to Wednesday, June 16, to avoid a conflict with the weekly Cabinet meeting

A Zimbabwean parliamentary official said Tuesday that the launch of the public outreach phase of the trouble-plagued constitutional revision process has once more been put off - though this time by only one day.

Co-Chairman Douglas Mwonzora of the select parliamentary committee running the process said the start of the public input phase is being pushed back a day to Wednesday, June 16, to avoid a conflict with the Cabinet meeting.

But controversy continues to dog the process. The latest bump in the road: something close to US$1 million has gone to training and accommodating public outreach officers - unbudgeted, according to one news source.

But Mwonzora told VOA Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere that allegations the funds spent were not budgeted are untrue. He added that as the government is paying the bill, the outreach phase won’t be delayed further.

Elsewhere in Zimbabwean politics, Minister for State Gorden Moyo has criticized as “nonsensical” attacks by senior officials of the unity government on Western countries, saying such nations are continually providing aid to ordinary Zimbabweans therefore the government should cultivate harmonious relations with them.

Taurai Shava reported from Gweru on the apparent chiding of President Robert Mugabe, who has made an art form of rhetorical attacks on the United States and Britain, alleging neo-colonialist designs.

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