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said in an interview yesterday that Finance Minister Tendai Biti who is also the MDC-T secretary general approached him last week seeking his support to write a joint letter to EISSA seeking election funding.

Minister Chinamasa said he dismissed the request with contempt as it came just a few days before the elections.
He said critical processes such as elections should not be funded by foreigners as they would have an influence on them. Minister Chinamasa described the request by MDC-T as a covert strategy to postpone the polls on the pretext of funding.

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“Minister Biti came last week asking me to write a joint letter seeking funding from EISSA,” he said.
“As you know, EISSA is not the source of the money, but it is merely the face of the countries that imposed sanctions on us,” he said.
“So, clearly I rejected it with the contempt it deserves and I did not understand why at the eleventh hour he (Minister Biti) would make such a request, especially given the fact that we know how donor money is raised and disbursed.

“Clearly, there was no time to do it in one week or two. I read that to mean that he wanted a postponement of the elections.”
Minister Chinamasa said Government secured money to fund the elections and all systems were in place for the successful holding of the elections.
He said even the special voting was a success although it was marred by some challenges which he said were not related to financial issues.
“Where we are right now, money has been found to run the elections,” he said.