Opposition presidential candidate Chikohora says party failed to fund MPs nomination fees 

By William Milasi

The president of the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD) Trust Chikohora has said while his party managed to field parliamentary candidates in some constituencies, it failed to cover the whole country due to high nomination fees costs.

Chikohora who is leading a coalition of parties who constituted POLAD said they decided to focus on the presidency and council as these are ‘strategic’ areas.

“We had always informed our potential candidates that they must at least be able to fund their own nomination fees. If they could not afford to be MPs, then they needed to go for council which was free,” he said.

He added the calls were made during his meetings with party structures across the country.

“This message was consistent throughout our tour of all the 10 provinces to identify candidates and is still the same now. Given the circumstances of high nomination fees from a strategic point of view, we then went for the Presidency because this is the level that determines the direction of the country and affects everyone’s destiny,” he said.

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Chikohora added that the decision to go for local authority was informed by the need to provide basic service delivery.

“In addition we have gone for Local Authorities because they affect service delivery at the most basic household level. That is, issues to do with water and sewage amongst others, which touch people on a day to day basis. In addition all votes come from the wards, even the Presidential votes,” he said.

Added Chikohora: “So we will fight  essentially for the Presidency and Local Authorities. We also do have some MPs that managed to successfully file their nomination papers, for  example, in Chinhoyi and Binga. So, it is all systems go to win the Presidency and transform this country for the benefit of all.”