Opinion / Columnist
Western union fueling cash shortages
06 Jun 2018 at 19:13hrs | Views
I don't know how to say this without sounding like a simpleton. Recently, I found out that people who work for Western Union in Zimbabwe have joined the grave train of creating cash shortages.
The scheme goes like this. There are foreign currency dealers on the streets hunting for foreign currency. These dealers are mostly interested in large bills only; $50 or $100. So what they do now is to collect as much small denominations like $5 notes as possible. They take these small denominations to Western Union and exchange them for large bills.
When people go to collect their diaspora remittances, they are offered small denominations. The dealers exchange these large bills at 40 percent plus.
This is a pity considering that the President of the country is working very hard to improve the economy.
While the president has done well in:
1. Mobilizing Financial Resources for Development
2. Creating an Enabling Environment for Participation in a Globalizing Economy
3. Enabling Private Sector Development
4. Building Social Capital and Strengthening Civil Society
5. Protecting Human Rights and Political Freedom
6. Combating Poverty
7. Providing or Facilitating Provision of Physical and Technological Infrastructure
8. Democratizing and Decentralizing Government
9. Creating Partnership and Collaborations for Service Delivery
He needs to stop providing leap service to corruption. Rampant corruption is still the order of the day in the country and it seems there is no motivation to clamp it out. Talking with no action is not enough.
I understand the president has a few months in office and has achieved a lot. My advice is democracy in its order takes centuries to mature not months. There is no need to rush everything to impress other people. Opening up freedom of speech and association and combating poverty is a huge success by themselves. Now I urge the president to attack corruption and attack it mightily otherwise it will overshadow everything he has achieved.
The scheme goes like this. There are foreign currency dealers on the streets hunting for foreign currency. These dealers are mostly interested in large bills only; $50 or $100. So what they do now is to collect as much small denominations like $5 notes as possible. They take these small denominations to Western Union and exchange them for large bills.
When people go to collect their diaspora remittances, they are offered small denominations. The dealers exchange these large bills at 40 percent plus.
This is a pity considering that the President of the country is working very hard to improve the economy.
While the president has done well in:
1. Mobilizing Financial Resources for Development
2. Creating an Enabling Environment for Participation in a Globalizing Economy
3. Enabling Private Sector Development
4. Building Social Capital and Strengthening Civil Society
5. Protecting Human Rights and Political Freedom
6. Combating Poverty
7. Providing or Facilitating Provision of Physical and Technological Infrastructure
8. Democratizing and Decentralizing Government
9. Creating Partnership and Collaborations for Service Delivery
He needs to stop providing leap service to corruption. Rampant corruption is still the order of the day in the country and it seems there is no motivation to clamp it out. Talking with no action is not enough.
I understand the president has a few months in office and has achieved a lot. My advice is democracy in its order takes centuries to mature not months. There is no need to rush everything to impress other people. Opening up freedom of speech and association and combating poverty is a huge success by themselves. Now I urge the president to attack corruption and attack it mightily otherwise it will overshadow everything he has achieved.
Source - Sam Wezhira
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