By Paul Nyathi
Opposition MDC-T leader who is also the MDC Alliance Presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa says that he also wants to engage with President Emmerson Mnangagwa who has been touting for a meeting with the opposition young leader.
However, unlike Mnangagwa who wants to meet Chamisa on the road map to the make per break election for both leaders, the confident Chamisa wants to meet Mnangagwa on the modalities of the post election transitional arrangement.
Addressing party supporters at Nzvimbo Growth Point in Mashonaland Central Province over the weekend, Chamisa said he was going to approach President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the transitional issues.
“Some of you are asking how we are going to rule if we win since they say soldiers will not allow us into power, well I was just talking to Professor Welshman Ncube that we are going to talk to Emmerson Mnangagwa that we must have a Government Transitional Act, that clearly explains how transition is done so that we don’t use guesswork.
“A good example is Ghana, they have the Act that actually gives dates on when the election winner should assume office and not wait for the outgoing to determine the process, what if he refuses to go what will you do?
“If he refuses to step down what will you do, there is a comfort that comes with being in power, so we want to fix that and determine the days taken to hand over power to the winner and also set the crimes for those who would have refused to hand over power,” he said.
Chamisa added that the Act will also clearly state the role of soldiers, the police and CIOs during the transitional period to prevent confusion.
“…it is not the police that is being changed during the elections; soldiers are not the ones being changed what is being changed are the head of the state and his associates.
“The soldiers belong to the country, the police belong to the country, CIOs are for the country, Chiefs and Headmen are all for the country, what we are only seeking to do is to change the head, we want a better head,” he said.
Zimbabweans are engulfed in fears that the military will not accept a person with no military background or liberation war history to lead the country even if he or she wins the elections.
The fears were further worsened by some senior members in the military who publicly announced that they will not salute a leader who does not have Second Chimurenga credentials.
These statements and the coup that happened in November last year have cast doubt that the military will willingly hand over power to anyone who would have won the elections.
MDC Alliance has also put forward their 10 demands for a credible election. Previous elections since 2000 have been deemed as unfair as they were marred by political violence, vote buying, manipulation of electoral boundaries and abuse of state institutions by government among many others irregularities.
Since his inception on November 24 last year, President Mnangagwa has been consistent in promising a free and fair election, although nothing much has done in terms of reforms to support his promise.
Open Parly reports.