EBC is broke

MBABANE - The shoe-string budget that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) resumed business on is threatening to ground operations.

Chairman of the EBC, Chief Gija, said the budgetary constraints were caused by the decrease in government’s allocation to the ministry from E200 million to E100 million.

“We are struggling but we       have not reached crisis point,” he said.
The EBC is currently engrossed in monitoring the registration of voters countrywide.
There are signs that the EBC cannot afford staff of its own to monitor the registration process nor can it afford intensive paid advertising for the registration process as had been the case in 2008.

Last week the Ministry of Public Works and Transport had to get cars from government ministries for use by the EBC.
A few registration clerks and competent witnesses said they were expecting to be paid at the end of last month for work done during the course of the month.

This despite that in recent years they were paid upon completion of the registration process.
However, Chief Gija said there was no need to panic for now.
“As for the clerks, the Treasury department will pay them in due course. As far as the staff is concerned, we are struggling, which is why we rely completely on government employees to aid us through the monitoring process.

“The current state we are in is caused by the initial budgeting constraints. We had asked for E200 million, but government said it could only afford E100 million. It does not come as a surprise then when we struggle in some aspects. The money is now less and we are patching here and there.”
Asked to respond to allegations that the assistant Government Spokesperson Sabelo Dlamini was seconded to join the EBC to help in the information process, he could not commit himself.
“I may not confirm that for now,” he said.

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