Electorate must be wary of vote buyers

Source: Electorate must be wary of vote buyers – DailyNews Live

STAFF WRITER      8 January 2018

HARARE – The year 2018 has begun in earnest and the keenly-awaited
harmonised elections are fast approaching.

The electorate must be careful as sitting and aspiring legislators have
started making beelines to different constituencies in the country.

The major purpose of the visits is to coax the ordinary citizen into
voting for them come the next election.

At times they take with them loads of goodies which they use to buy the
voters. It is a double tragedy for some constituents for they have
previously lost lot through misappropriated Constituency Development Funds
(CDF).

What is perhaps critical for voters is that they should be able to make
their choices free from any possible coercion that may come from aspiring
legislators.

A number of them have not moved from their past modus operandi where they
would force voters into submission through intimidation and sheer violence
targeted at any dissenting voices.

Poor performance by legislators is a cancer that cuts across the political
divide in the same way the CDF abuse took place.

For this reason, the electorate must take stock of what their respective
legislators delivered during their five-year terms or even beyond for
others.

Most constituents are aware of the problems that bedevil their communities
among them the provision of safe drinking water, poor road networks that
have worsened with decades of neglect as well as connectivity challenges
which are inconsistent with the current global technological trajectory.

With the exception of a few legislators, the bulk of them have been guilty
of this transgression. Of course, there are some whose performance has
been stellar and they must not fret over being painted by the same brush.

The legislators themselves must remember that the electorate is not that
daft. Gone are the days when they would be pushed into submission by
greedy politicians and they still retain some measure of autonomy to make
free choices in national political decisions.

In the past few months, several politicians have been visiting their
constituencies for the first time in five years but the people are now
mature and know they will use their vote to respond to such situations.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already promised that the 2018 elections
will be free and fair, leaving legislators – both sitting and aspiring
with huge tasks to convince voters to pick on them.