THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union have come to the rescue of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in securing biometric registration kits and software to be used in developing a new voters’ roll ahead of the 2018 general elections.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Opposition parties have for a long time cried foul over Zec’s conduct of elections particularly the control and management of the voters’ roll, which they alleged was being manipulated in favour of Zanu PF.
UNDP yesterday advertised a tender to companies that can supply systems to be used in the new voter registration. The tender value is estimated at $50 million, a figure Zec has repeatedly said it needs to unroll biometric registration during public meetings.
“The procurement services unit of the UNDP, in collaboration with Zec, invites you to submit a bid for the procurement of biometric voter registration kits including software for the electoral processes in Zimbabwe,” the tender notice read.
The tender comes with conditions, according to insiders, which include continuous consultations by Zec with all electoral stakeholders.
Zec has, in the last two months, held a series of consultative meetings with political parties and civil society organisations about the measures being taken in reforming electoral processes in the country.
MDC-T representative, Murisi Zwizwai last month, at one of the meetings, expressed concern over where the biometric registrations kits and software would be sourced, as the issue remained a secret.
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The tender bidding would only be done online and would close mid-January.
“Please note that this procurement process is being conducted through an online tendering system of UNDP and solicitation documents can be downloaded from there. Deadline for submission of bids is January 17, 2017,” the advert read.
