Opinion / Letters
President Mnangagwa's Corruption Blitz Should not Spare Bindura University
21 Dec 2017 at 21:51hrs | Views
Dear New President,
As you took the reins of the country from a corrupt system, you promised, all who cared to listen to you, that you would deal a lethal blow to corruption. So far, all we have seen are concerted efforts being made in dealing with those who were your direct political opponents. Not that doing so is wrong as corruption must surely be ranked as corruption no matter who is guilty of committing it, but you could as well extend your blitz to cover those with well documented corruption files. Could you now extend your cleansing exercise to the Higher Education sector, particularly focussing on Bindura University? The institution is a mess to say the least as far as corruption is concerned. I am sure, by now, your media analysts have since brought this institution's Vice Chancellor's moral decadence to your attention. This man's depravity is compounded by the University Council which was appointed by Professor Jonathan Moyo to lead that institution. I don't think this Council meets at all. If they are meeting, by now, they surely should have stopped the rot at the institution. Or could it be that there are some ability related challenges in the new Council? Or are they simply drawing board allowances without meeting like their former Ministry's Permanent Secretary allegedly did? If these people ever meet as a board why haven't they advertised the Vice Chancellor's job to enable properly qualified Zimbabweans who are not corrupt to apply for the job? Judging by the time the corrupt incumbent was installed amid unnecessary celebration by the former President, the contract of the arriviste, corrupt, arrogant, cruel and clueless Vice Chancellor should be up by now.
There may be a need for you to remove all the Councillors and replace them with people who are qualified. Higher education issues are so esoteric that they require a board that is highly qualified and knowledgeable. The board that was appointed by Professor Jonathan Moyo is chaired by a senior manager of IDBZ. IDBZ advertised in the mainstream newspapers that they entered into MOUs for infrastructural development with State Universities. One of the Universities covered by these MOUs is Bindura University. So, this senior manager chairs a board (Bindura University) that has to decide whether to enter into a business arrangement with his full-time employer (IDBZ)! How convenient for the Chairman! Clearly this Chairman is not independent and will be driven by self-interest in his dealings with Bindura University. How can he stop the rot at the institution when the Vice Chancellor is his main customer? He surely will do all in his power to safeguard the Vice Chancellor who is buttering his bread at the expense of other University stakeholders. Was this part of Professor Jonathan Moyo's way of ensuring that the corrupt Vice Chancellor would never be removed from the University regardless of his incompetence and moral depravity? Why did Professor Jonathan Moyo also impose the wife of a short-lived G40 Minister as the Deputy Chairperson of the same University Council? I guess this was done to ensure that all corridors of power would be in the hands of those that would make sure that corruption would continue unabated. This corrupt Vice Chancellor introduced corruption to the institution during the time of the first Permanent Secretary of the four that he has worked with in the Ministry. On that one, I am sure Your Excellency, you know how corrupt that Permanent Secretary was. He even had to be shifted around by the former President who did not punish the corrupt.
Even Mutare Technical College have their stories to tell on how he plundered their resources in the form of scotch carts and furniture! During my time at Bindura University, he had a farm in Shamva and the corrupt Vice Chancellor had even gone to the extent of assigning one of the University's tractors to that Permanent Secretary's farm. When a forensic audit was done at Bindura University, the same Permanent Secretary is alleged to have confiscated the Report done by Grant Thornton and threatened the gentleman who was the Chairman of the University Council when he wanted to act on the findings. The Ministry of Higher Education then replaced all the University's board members save for one. Some of the people who were replaced were really upright people of integrity. People like Mrs Grace Muradzikwa, Dr Guramatunhu and Mr Kunaka are people of integrity who would have stopped the rot if they were allowed to do so. These were not appointed back on the board.
Does President Mnangagwa really mean it when he says he wants to tackle corruption head-on? If so, he may need to make his Minister of Higher Education interrogate the process that led to the recruitment of this new board. Where did they come from? Their qualifications must be assessed. Universities, due to their special place in the knowledge society, need board members who hold at least a relevant Master degree. The Minister could also take a look at the corruption files and all complaints bordering on gross incompetence that his Directors have on this Vice Chancellor and immediately suspend this corrupt person (Vice Chancellor of Bindura University) before he tarnishes the new President's name as he is now saying he is friends with President Mnangagwa as he used to say about Mr Mugabe as a way of instilling fear in those who he works with. It would not surprise me to hear that this Vice Chancellor is the one who told Professor Jonathan Moyo who should be a Chairman and who should deputise the Chairman and who should be on the new Council and who should not.
President Mnangagwa, please extend your dragnet to cover all the country's parastatals. For now, please suspend this incompetent man and his board and then ask your Minister to publicly call for applications from those who are not corrupt to apply to fill these board vacancies. The Minister ought to move fast as the corrupt gentleman is cunningly deceptive and he may destroy all the evidence courtesy of his fearful team that is ready to comply with his orders. The Minister may need to suspend all the key personnel that is the finance director, the human resources director as well as the special projects director and the other projects that are not special director to pave way for a proper investigation. The corruption of this Vice Chancellor and nepotism forced me to leave the institution that I so loved and had contributed to for a very long time. I follow the developments at the institution in the hope that when sanity prevails perhaps one day I may be considered for re-appointment on merit if I make the grade then.
Cde Corruption Ichapera
As you took the reins of the country from a corrupt system, you promised, all who cared to listen to you, that you would deal a lethal blow to corruption. So far, all we have seen are concerted efforts being made in dealing with those who were your direct political opponents. Not that doing so is wrong as corruption must surely be ranked as corruption no matter who is guilty of committing it, but you could as well extend your blitz to cover those with well documented corruption files. Could you now extend your cleansing exercise to the Higher Education sector, particularly focussing on Bindura University? The institution is a mess to say the least as far as corruption is concerned. I am sure, by now, your media analysts have since brought this institution's Vice Chancellor's moral decadence to your attention. This man's depravity is compounded by the University Council which was appointed by Professor Jonathan Moyo to lead that institution. I don't think this Council meets at all. If they are meeting, by now, they surely should have stopped the rot at the institution. Or could it be that there are some ability related challenges in the new Council? Or are they simply drawing board allowances without meeting like their former Ministry's Permanent Secretary allegedly did? If these people ever meet as a board why haven't they advertised the Vice Chancellor's job to enable properly qualified Zimbabweans who are not corrupt to apply for the job? Judging by the time the corrupt incumbent was installed amid unnecessary celebration by the former President, the contract of the arriviste, corrupt, arrogant, cruel and clueless Vice Chancellor should be up by now.
There may be a need for you to remove all the Councillors and replace them with people who are qualified. Higher education issues are so esoteric that they require a board that is highly qualified and knowledgeable. The board that was appointed by Professor Jonathan Moyo is chaired by a senior manager of IDBZ. IDBZ advertised in the mainstream newspapers that they entered into MOUs for infrastructural development with State Universities. One of the Universities covered by these MOUs is Bindura University. So, this senior manager chairs a board (Bindura University) that has to decide whether to enter into a business arrangement with his full-time employer (IDBZ)! How convenient for the Chairman! Clearly this Chairman is not independent and will be driven by self-interest in his dealings with Bindura University. How can he stop the rot at the institution when the Vice Chancellor is his main customer? He surely will do all in his power to safeguard the Vice Chancellor who is buttering his bread at the expense of other University stakeholders. Was this part of Professor Jonathan Moyo's way of ensuring that the corrupt Vice Chancellor would never be removed from the University regardless of his incompetence and moral depravity? Why did Professor Jonathan Moyo also impose the wife of a short-lived G40 Minister as the Deputy Chairperson of the same University Council? I guess this was done to ensure that all corridors of power would be in the hands of those that would make sure that corruption would continue unabated. This corrupt Vice Chancellor introduced corruption to the institution during the time of the first Permanent Secretary of the four that he has worked with in the Ministry. On that one, I am sure Your Excellency, you know how corrupt that Permanent Secretary was. He even had to be shifted around by the former President who did not punish the corrupt.
Does President Mnangagwa really mean it when he says he wants to tackle corruption head-on? If so, he may need to make his Minister of Higher Education interrogate the process that led to the recruitment of this new board. Where did they come from? Their qualifications must be assessed. Universities, due to their special place in the knowledge society, need board members who hold at least a relevant Master degree. The Minister could also take a look at the corruption files and all complaints bordering on gross incompetence that his Directors have on this Vice Chancellor and immediately suspend this corrupt person (Vice Chancellor of Bindura University) before he tarnishes the new President's name as he is now saying he is friends with President Mnangagwa as he used to say about Mr Mugabe as a way of instilling fear in those who he works with. It would not surprise me to hear that this Vice Chancellor is the one who told Professor Jonathan Moyo who should be a Chairman and who should deputise the Chairman and who should be on the new Council and who should not.
President Mnangagwa, please extend your dragnet to cover all the country's parastatals. For now, please suspend this incompetent man and his board and then ask your Minister to publicly call for applications from those who are not corrupt to apply to fill these board vacancies. The Minister ought to move fast as the corrupt gentleman is cunningly deceptive and he may destroy all the evidence courtesy of his fearful team that is ready to comply with his orders. The Minister may need to suspend all the key personnel that is the finance director, the human resources director as well as the special projects director and the other projects that are not special director to pave way for a proper investigation. The corruption of this Vice Chancellor and nepotism forced me to leave the institution that I so loved and had contributed to for a very long time. I follow the developments at the institution in the hope that when sanity prevails perhaps one day I may be considered for re-appointment on merit if I make the grade then.
Cde Corruption Ichapera
Source - Cde Corruption Ichapera
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