Harare residents have demanded access to the findings of a Special Committee set up by the City of Harare to investigate the Pomona waste to energy deal.
A full council meeting of 2 June 2022 passed a resolution to set up a Special Committee to investigate the Pomona Waste to Energy deal entered between City of Harare and a Netherlands based company Geogenix B.V.
On the 18th of July 2022 at a Special Council meeting, the Special Committee reported that they had completed the inquiry but its findings have not been brought before a full council meeting.
In a letter to the Mayor of Harare, Councilor Jacob Mafume, Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) and Community Water Alliance (CWA) demanded that the report be tabled in a full council meeting to ensure that policy makers and all interested parties can have access to the report.
“Pursuant to Section 62(1) and (2) of the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe, we are requesting access to the Special Committee Report in the interest of public accountability and protection of a health environment free of harmful dumpsites as contained in Section 73 of the Constitution,” said CHRA Acting Director Reuben Akili and CWA Coordinator Hardlife Mudzingwa.
The two organisations further demanded that the report be presented before a full council meeting to guide policy makers in their decision making.
They further demanded that copies of the report be made public for purposes of transparency and accountability.
“We request that this report be presented in Full Council so that policymakers are guided by informed research on decision making and that copies be made to the public for accountability purposes.
“This request is made guided by Section 194(1)(e), (f) and (h) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which provides for timely response to people’s needs, people’s participation in policy making, accountability of public administration to the people and fostering transparency by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information,” said Akili and Mudzingwa.
City of Harare’s bid to pull out of the Pomona Waste to Energy deal has suffered setbacks due to the interference of Local government minister July Moyo who disregarded the council resolutions while forcing the municipality to pay service fees due to Geogenix B.V.
