MP's Must Reject Chinamasa's Shocking Irresponsibility

The MDC-T UK hereby registers our shock at the ZANU's government's proposal that the nation should take on a $1,2 billion Reserve Bank debt which includes $200 million dished out to Zanu (PF) bosses and others who were being bribed in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by bankrupting the national depository of wealth.

The Zanu (PF) Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Parliament to condone former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono's dishing out of largesse to Zanu (PF) cronies, including himself.

He was also a beneficiary of the scheme which provided farm equipment and anything that a Zanu (PF) officials wanted from the Reserve Bank, while the Governor was bankrupting the central bank.

Minister Chinamasa's defense - that this was a government programme does not wash, because the government never had a programme to dish out farming equipment to Zanu (PF) bosses which they would not be required to pay for.

Chinamasa unashamedly told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance that  the money was used to prop up Zimbabwe during the "emergency hyper-inflationary period" and that Parliament should "let bygones be bygones."

We demand that the corrupt recipients of these funds be named and shamed and made to repay what they were given, which was national money that could have built schools or roads or fed hungry families whose breadwinners lost their jobs.

He virtually confirms that the then Minister of Finance had abrogated his responsibility to allocate resources in the economy, while allowing the Reserve Bank to print worthless currency which was given to the massed while the Zanu (PF) bosses converted theirs to US dollars and bought properties.

Chinamasa said in his own words: "The country was under a state of emergency as the economy was going down and the RBZ was now running the economy as an agent of the government." Running the economy for him meant rendering the deposits of Zimbabweans worthless.

It was our contention then, and it is still our contention that Zanu knows nothing about running any economy, which explains the opaque deals that they are making with the Chinese, the Russians and anyone who is corrupt enough to give the ministers the necessary backhanders.

The so-called Farm Mechanisation Scheme, which was at the centre of Gono's handouts to Zanu (PF) bosses, their relatives and their enforcers, did not produce any turn-around in the fortunes of the agricultural economy which continued to decline.

An economy which had, during the same period, been blessed by a totally unexpected diamond find worth billions of dollars, screamed, sending  companies closing, investors disinvesting, and workers being sent out of work - further worsening government's ability to provide even the most basic services. Communal farmers did not receive  inputs; emergency services are not able to help flood victims, and the government bus company is running without insurance for its passengers.

At the same time Zanu (PF) bosses have built mansions, and stashed millions of dollars in foreign accounts, thanks to the transfer of wealth that was enabled by their access to US dollars provided to them by the RBZ , while the rest of the population was impoverished by trillion percent inflation.

This is actually a crime which the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance, chaired by Zanu (PF) Mutoko North MP David Chapfika should be investigating in the context of the debate on this bill.

Chinamasa should submit himself to Parliament's will, which was formulated after consulting Zimbabweans national, that those who benefited from the hand-outs, amounting to more than $200 million, should be named and made to repay the money, or have their properties confiscated.

The MDC-T national leadership has said Zimbabwe now needs a national consultation involving all political parties and all sections of the society to come out with an agreed blue-print sto take the nation out of the current quagmire.

We endorse this stance and call upon Zanu (PF) to join the rest of the nation in this patriotic effort. Failure to do so should result in citizens taking any steps necessary to hold Zanu (PF) accountable.

To this end we are encouraging Zimbabweans to send a warning to Zanu (PF) through demonstration on the 91st anniversary of the birth of President Robert Mugabe on Saturday  February 21. In the UK the demonstrations will be at the Zimbabwean Embassy, 429 The Strand, starting at noon. Others will be in the Washington DC, South Africa and Canada.

Today's announcement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that it has not yet commenced voter registration, yet an election date next month has been proclaimed, should the extent of state-craft incompetence that Zimbabweans should no longer tolerate.