Opinion / Columnist
Sanctions on Zim: US ambassador reading from the hardcover
28 Apr 2016 at 13:08hrs | Views
The United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Peter Harry Thomas (Jr)'s recent public denial that the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by his country were not affecting ordinary citizens but were only targeted to some ZANU PF leaders and some entities owned by those leaders showed that he is not in touch with reality. Ambassador P.H Thomas (Jr) has shown his lack of knowledge on what the Zimbabweans have been undergoing economically since the turn of the 21st millennium when Zimbabwe got economically embargoed.
His lack of knowledge on the impact of the economic sanctions imposed on the country by both the USA government and the European Union (EU) for more than a decade now should not make him trivialise the suffering of some Zimbabweans here. As a new top American diplomat to Zimbabwe he needs to take his time and get to understand what Zimbabweans have been experiencing for close to two decades before he comes out with such uninformed comments.
Ambassador Thomas Junior who would be in the country for some number of years to come should use that time as a means to get more information about Zimbabwe. Taking history lessons on Zimbabwean issues would also help him to appreciate more about what the Zimbabweans have been experiencing even before the sanctions were imposed so that he would not have problems coming up with a well-researched conclusions about the status of this Southern African country.
The fact that he is new in the country and has not travelled around the country on his fact finding missions to see the effects of the western imposed economic sanctions on the Zimbabwean economy makes him to deny the real facts on ground. Ambassador Thomas (Jr) needs to consult widely with his counterparts in the US embassy and those in the diplomatic community who have been in the country before him so that he is well informed of the real issues on the ground. Relying on the western written books on Zimbabwe without first-hand information would not help the ambassador to the whole information in which he would be covering for the duration of his tour of duty.
Responding to journalists' questions during a roundtable discussion at the American Corner at the Bulawayo Public Library on Thursday 21 April 2016, Ambassador Thomas Jnr said that his country was the biggest supporter of ordinary people in Zimbabwe. He added: "It is not true that US sanctions affect ordinary people the most. We are the biggest donor in this country; we give more scholarships to support people". End of quote. Ambassador Thomas further said that his country had been the largest donor to Zimbabwe giving the Southern African country $2, 6 billion since independence.
For Ambassador Thomas Jr to come out telling those who bothered to listen to him that the $2, 6 billion which his country is said to have donated to Zimbabwe since independence was necessary when the country has lost more than $100 billion in potential revenue since the country was embargoed more than a decade ago reveals that he lacks respect for the Zimbabwean people. Ambassador Thomas needs to appreciate that Zimbabwe is endowed with mineral resources that can be exploited to finance her operations without any outside donations. And such potential coming from the use of mineral and other natural resources was destroyed by sanctions as all line of credits were cut off by the international community because of some sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
It should be clear to Ambassador Thomas Junior that the West's illegal economic sanctions regime has cost Zimbabwe's economic wellbeing since 2001, with negative effects on vulnerable groups that saw their livelihoods decline to pitiable levels. So the US top diplomat to Zimbabwe needs to grasp such information so that next time if he gets to give a comment on sanctions in the country he would not get himself into angering the affected people.
Since 2001, the illegal sanctions have put the Zimbabwe economy under siege with negative downstream effects on vulnerable groups, communities and civil society thereby creating confusion in the economic turnaround of the country. Zimbabwean companies that have been performing well before the sanctions regime like the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), Zimbabwe National Foods, Industrial Development Corporation and its subsidiaries as well as some of the companies not mentioned here got their operations affected by the sanctions. So Ambassador Thomas Jr should be aware of such information. He should not boost about giving Zimbabwe $2, 6 billion as such amount looks like a drop in the ocean if compared to what Zimbabwe lost because of the sanctions imposed by the same.
It is quite noble for Ambassador Thomas Junior to know that these sanctions manifested themselves as financial, trade, cultural, academic, sport embargoes, diplomatic isolation travel bans, freezing of financial accounts of the national leadership, influential individuals in the business community and strategic entities and generally worsening Zimbabwe's sovereign risk. So for him to downplay the effects of some sanctions on the ordinary citizens is unfortunate if not frivolous.
Some facts on the ground that the ambassador is quite aware of are that the US promulgated the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act in 2001, that has since been renamed Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act resulting in the cutting of all lines of credit from multilateral lending institutions prompting an assault on, and decimation of the Zimbabwe dollar. What defends could the ambassador bring to make his country clean on sanctions.
Recent reports from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development indicates that Zimbabwe lost donor support amounting to approximately US$36 million annually since 2001, US$79 million in loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African Development Bank, commercial loans of US$431 million and GDP reduction of US$3,4 billion. Up to this day Zimbabweans continue to suffer because of the economic hardships caused by sanctions imposed on the country by Ambassador Thomas Junior's country and the European Union bloc.
It further said that the negative publicity by the international community on Zimbabwe scared away potential creditors and reduced commercial loans by US$431 million per annum during the 200s. So Ambassador Thomas Junior should not rush into coming up with unsubstantiated claims when information on the ground point elsewhere.
In addition the report says that the interruption of trade and constraints on manufacturing and general economic activities saw the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) almost halving from US$7, 49 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2010. For that reason Ambassador Thomas Junior should now go around the country to see for himself the effects of sanctions imposed by his country on Zimbabwe. Actually he should not keep on reading issues to do with sanctions on the hardcover but should read more about that inside the book itself.
His lack of knowledge on the impact of the economic sanctions imposed on the country by both the USA government and the European Union (EU) for more than a decade now should not make him trivialise the suffering of some Zimbabweans here. As a new top American diplomat to Zimbabwe he needs to take his time and get to understand what Zimbabweans have been experiencing for close to two decades before he comes out with such uninformed comments.
Ambassador Thomas Junior who would be in the country for some number of years to come should use that time as a means to get more information about Zimbabwe. Taking history lessons on Zimbabwean issues would also help him to appreciate more about what the Zimbabweans have been experiencing even before the sanctions were imposed so that he would not have problems coming up with a well-researched conclusions about the status of this Southern African country.
The fact that he is new in the country and has not travelled around the country on his fact finding missions to see the effects of the western imposed economic sanctions on the Zimbabwean economy makes him to deny the real facts on ground. Ambassador Thomas (Jr) needs to consult widely with his counterparts in the US embassy and those in the diplomatic community who have been in the country before him so that he is well informed of the real issues on the ground. Relying on the western written books on Zimbabwe without first-hand information would not help the ambassador to the whole information in which he would be covering for the duration of his tour of duty.
Responding to journalists' questions during a roundtable discussion at the American Corner at the Bulawayo Public Library on Thursday 21 April 2016, Ambassador Thomas Jnr said that his country was the biggest supporter of ordinary people in Zimbabwe. He added: "It is not true that US sanctions affect ordinary people the most. We are the biggest donor in this country; we give more scholarships to support people". End of quote. Ambassador Thomas further said that his country had been the largest donor to Zimbabwe giving the Southern African country $2, 6 billion since independence.
For Ambassador Thomas Jr to come out telling those who bothered to listen to him that the $2, 6 billion which his country is said to have donated to Zimbabwe since independence was necessary when the country has lost more than $100 billion in potential revenue since the country was embargoed more than a decade ago reveals that he lacks respect for the Zimbabwean people. Ambassador Thomas needs to appreciate that Zimbabwe is endowed with mineral resources that can be exploited to finance her operations without any outside donations. And such potential coming from the use of mineral and other natural resources was destroyed by sanctions as all line of credits were cut off by the international community because of some sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
It should be clear to Ambassador Thomas Junior that the West's illegal economic sanctions regime has cost Zimbabwe's economic wellbeing since 2001, with negative effects on vulnerable groups that saw their livelihoods decline to pitiable levels. So the US top diplomat to Zimbabwe needs to grasp such information so that next time if he gets to give a comment on sanctions in the country he would not get himself into angering the affected people.
It is quite noble for Ambassador Thomas Junior to know that these sanctions manifested themselves as financial, trade, cultural, academic, sport embargoes, diplomatic isolation travel bans, freezing of financial accounts of the national leadership, influential individuals in the business community and strategic entities and generally worsening Zimbabwe's sovereign risk. So for him to downplay the effects of some sanctions on the ordinary citizens is unfortunate if not frivolous.
Some facts on the ground that the ambassador is quite aware of are that the US promulgated the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act in 2001, that has since been renamed Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act resulting in the cutting of all lines of credit from multilateral lending institutions prompting an assault on, and decimation of the Zimbabwe dollar. What defends could the ambassador bring to make his country clean on sanctions.
Recent reports from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development indicates that Zimbabwe lost donor support amounting to approximately US$36 million annually since 2001, US$79 million in loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African Development Bank, commercial loans of US$431 million and GDP reduction of US$3,4 billion. Up to this day Zimbabweans continue to suffer because of the economic hardships caused by sanctions imposed on the country by Ambassador Thomas Junior's country and the European Union bloc.
It further said that the negative publicity by the international community on Zimbabwe scared away potential creditors and reduced commercial loans by US$431 million per annum during the 200s. So Ambassador Thomas Junior should not rush into coming up with unsubstantiated claims when information on the ground point elsewhere.
In addition the report says that the interruption of trade and constraints on manufacturing and general economic activities saw the Growth Domestic Product (GDP) almost halving from US$7, 49 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2010. For that reason Ambassador Thomas Junior should now go around the country to see for himself the effects of sanctions imposed by his country on Zimbabwe. Actually he should not keep on reading issues to do with sanctions on the hardcover but should read more about that inside the book itself.
Source - Mukachana Hanyani
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