Spending on Zimbabwe’s feared security police is set to surge to Z$395,8-billion ($70,6-million) in 2005, according to expenditure estimates released on Tuesday.
President Robert Mugabe’s government refuses to discuss the operations of the Central Intelligence Organisation. Funding for the shadowy force appears under a ”special services” category in the budget for his own office.
According to figures released Tuesday, spending on special services ballooned in 2004 from an approved Z$62-billion ($11,1-million) to Z$101,6-billion ($16,3-million) without consulting Parliament. No explanation was given.
Next year, Z$334,5-billion ($59,7-million) is budgeted for special services.
A separate equipment procurement account for special services is also increasing from Z$10-billion ($1,8-million) — of which just Z$1,5-billion ($270 000) was spent in 2004 — to Z$61,3-billion ($10,9-million) in 2005.
The funds are being used to build training facilities, housing and regional officials, as well as to purchase unspecified equipment.
Mugabe, who has lead Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, has stepped up a crackdown on descent in this troubled southern African country since losing a constitutional referendum in 2000.
The surge in spending on the security police comes as Zimbabwe prepares to hold key parliamentary elections next year.
Human Rights groups accuse Mugabe of using the Central Intelligence Organisation to spy on suspected opponents at home and abroad, intimidate voters and other abuses.
Parliament is barred from discussing the special services allocations in the annual budget, which regularly increase at a rate in excess of the country’s soaring inflation. – Sapa-AP