Chinamasa, Made in dam scandal

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has been caught up in a potentially explosive furore over a possible conflict of interest in which the allocation of US$5 million for the construction of Causeway Dam in which he and a Cabinet colleague, Joseph Made, will be among the beneficiaries.

To be constructed along the Macheke River in Manicaland Province, Causeway Dam secured funding in the 2017 National Budget ahead of more deserving projects that have been outstanding for many years owing to budgetary constraints.

While the official line is that the dam will supply water to Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, many kilometres away in Mashonaland East, the interesting thing is that it will directly benefit Chinamasa, who is the head of Treasury, and Made, his counterpart at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.

Made's mandate in Cabinet is that of providing technical, extension, advisory, regulatory and administrative services to the agricultural sector to achieve food security and economic development.

 Chinamasa and Made command critical economic ministries with the latter presiding over what is referred to as the ministry of the country's economy, while the former is in charge of the allocation of government resources.

Chinamasa owns Lawrencedale Farm, while Made runs Tara Farm. Both are close to the Causeway Dam project.