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WE are appalled by the behaviour of some Western envoys accredited to Zimbabwe and call on them to desist from their meddlesome ways lest they derail the re-engagement efforts between Zimbabwe and their countries which were showing signs of progress. We are particularly disappointed by the actions of British Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Catriona Laing and her German counterpart Dr Thorsten Hutter for their undiplomatic and provocative intrusions into the internal affairs of this country.

The two have been waging a campaign to prop up opposition parties while at the same time seeking to undermine Government efforts to prepare for next year’s harmonised elections. While their shenanigans may not come as a surprise to some because of their historic open hostility to the Zimbabwean Government and the ruling Zanu-PF party, their current stance betrays their fear of another humiliating defeat for their proxies in the opposition in 2018.

It is apparent that the European Union and its allies in the West are in panic mode given the shambolic state of the opposition movement in Zimbabwe and are already anticipating a thorough drubbing for their lackeys hence the frenzied activity to ensure a united front against Zanu-PF.

Huge sums of money are also finding their way into opposition coffers and those of non-governmental organisations aligned to them while a parallel effort is underway to discredit Government efforts to procure Bio-Metric Voter Registration Kits.

Red flags were raised when Britain and its EU allies erupted in fury when the Government offered to purchase the BVR kits so that the country’s electoral processes are truly an internal affair without the meddlesome hands of foreigners. Government has provided the $17 million required by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to purchase the BVR kits, although the electoral body will handle the processing of buying the equipment.

The United Nations Development Programme, which had initially offered to fund the programme, has conceded that there is nothing wrong with Government providing funds for the procurement of the kits and reiterated that it will always follow Government leads in identifying areas that need support.

Addressing a Press Conference in Harare on Wednesday, UNDP resident coordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli said they appreciated Government’s commitment to funding some programmes without relying on donor funding. “On the issue of BVR, you know we work on request from Government and all the UN programmes are joint programmes between Government and the UN and Government always has the priority,” he said.

“We will do this and we will do that and we respect and actually we commend the Government for coming forward with resources. I think this is wonderful and that is key for sustainability and so in fact we very much welcome that.”

He added: “There should be no question on who is doing what now or later because we always agree with Government,” he said.

“We agree on certain things to do today and if there are changes we agree with Government and then we allocate the resources. I think there is no need to interpret these things in a different way. For us it is a very positive thing that Government is committed in supporting certain things and not rely on development partners.

“This is good. We very much commend Government in coming up with resources in whatever area although there are some challenges in relation to the economy, but I think they are doing the best in the current economic situation.”

We commend the UNDP for refusing to be railroaded into a regime change project spearheaded by the British and its EU counterparts. Lately, foreign envoys from the EU have been on a warpath and are angling to ensure that Zanu-PF loses next year’s polls. We reported on Wednesday how Dr Hutter and Ms Laing were in Bulawayo recently where they chided the opposition for being disjointed and urged them to unite against Zanu-PF.

They also dangled a carrot of up to $3 million to NGOs aligned to the opposition exhorting them to unite if they are to access the funds. Earlier this month, the EU donated $5 million to civil society ostensibly to strengthen democratic processes but the funding has been unmasked as meant to influence next year’s polls in favour of the opposition.

Ms Laing has also criticised Government’s offer to procure the BVR kits saying they were “concerned” about the transparency of the process. We find this brazen interference in the internal processes of a sovereign nation untoward, unwarranted and unacceptable.

Britain and its allies have no right to prescribe how the country should run its elections and we wish to warn them that any interference by their governments in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs will be studiously resisted. In any case, we wonder why they are so keen to determine how Zimbabwe’s elections are conducted if they have no vested interest in their outcome.