President leaves for UN summit

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe left Harare for New York yesterday evening to attend the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Assembly will be held under the theme, “Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on Sustainable Planet”.

Discussions will centre on making a difference in the lives of ordinary people, prevention and mediation for sustaining peace, climate change and human rights.

Accompanying the President was Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and other top Government officials.

President Mugabe was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, Harare Metropolitan Province Minister Miriam Chikukwa and service chiefs.

VP Mnangangwa is the Acting President.

IT IS indeed a new day in Zimbabwe seeing His Excellency President Robert Gabriel Mugabe launching the new system of voter registration.

The registration of voters using world standard technology Biometric Voter Registration is a commendable effort from ZEC as it will put to bed some of the controversies associated with recent elections.

It is only the right thing to do in this information and electronic age.

However, my concerns are that the Biometric Voter Registration system may not be accessible to everyone, particularly those in remote areas, the elderly and other vulnerable members of our society.

My concerns stem from the announcement made by the Registrar-General’s Office that only plastic IDs will be used for voter registration.

This puts people living in remote areas and the elderly at great disadvantage because some are immobile and may lack resources needed to acquire these IDs.

I say let’s gradually phase out the metal IDs as time goes, not abruptly taking this decision when we have little time left until the elections. Nisbert Kachere

Guruve.