Opinion / Letters
Open Letter to All National Assembly Legislators
26 Oct 2014 at 15:33hrs | Views
Tuesday the 28 October 2014 will see the opening of the second session of the eighth parliament. Among the bills most likely to be prioritized during this session is the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Debt Assumption.
This bill submitted to Parliament in April 2014 seeks to transfer approximately US$1,3 billion debt incurred by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to the Central Government. In reality this means the burden of this debt will be borne by all Zimbabwean ordinary citizens and future generations.
The background to this debt is that in 2007 the RBZ, under the governorship of Dr Gideon Gono, directed banks to transfer foreign currency from private bank accounts to the country's monetary authority. In 2013 The Supreme Court Judge Vernada Ziyambi made a landmark ruling that Standard Chartered Bank of Zimbabwe should pay the Chinese firm Shougang International the amount of currency that had been transferred to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The judge's conclusion was that the bank had an obligation to protect the depositors' money. This in effect opened the gates for other banks to be sued.
The main aim of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Debt Assumption Bill is to grant the banks in similar position as the Standard Chartered Bank of Zimbabwe and the RBZ immunity against claims for monies seized by the RBZ prior to December 2008. Section 4 (4) of the proposed bill states
"no action or proceedings shall be commenced or continued against the RBZ in respect of a prior debt assumed by the Minister (of finance) on behalf of the State"
Any reasonable legislator will have no doubt that the governor of the RBZ was reckless in directing the banks to hand over foreign currency from private depositors. He should therefore be held to account for his recklessness when in a position of authority and not be protected by the State. The former governor has enough resources from which the government can recoup the money to pay part of the debt.
As legislators it is your duty to prevent the debt-burdening of the suffering masses of Zimbabwe by ensuring that the proposed bill is not passed.
Please pass this letter to legislators across the political divide.
Yours faithfully
Concerned Ordinary Citizen
Source - Concerned Ordinary Citizen
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