The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it has begun the payment process of all the service providers and suppliers who assisted the Commission during the October 07 National Assembly last year. IEC Chairperson Mr Mphasa Mokhochane said Wednesday that after receiving the M55 Million arrears from the Government, it has begun the payment process to all the people and companies who provided services and those who supplied the Commission with election materials.

He noted that the party agents will take the bulk of the money amounting to M33 Million which he said is more than half of all the money at the Commission’s disposal. Mr Mokhochane said the Commission is aiming to pay all those who were owed money before April 01 this year to avoid being in a situation where the Accountant General will claim any funds not fully utilised in this financial year. “We have no choice but to try to speed up the payment process so that by April 01 this year all those owed by IEC should have been paid,’’ he highlighted.

The IEC Chairperson stated that besides the party agents, there will be Non- Governmental Organisations which provided voter education to the electorate, caterers who provided meals during the election processes as well as those who provided transport and accommodation. When asked if the money allocated to IEC for this year’s financial year was enough to conduct the Local Government elections, he said it falls short of M16 Million.However, he promised that they will work with what they have since they were given a ceiling that they could not be allocated funds beyond what they were given. ‘’We will have to cut some of the things we were supposed to do in order to run the successful LocalGovernment elections,’’ he commented.