News / National
Gideon Gono refuses to take credit
26 May 2014 at 11:34hrs | Views
Gideon Retired Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono yesterday refused to take credit for government's climb-down on the controversial indigenisation policy.
Gono said ultimately it is the nation not individuals who should benefit from the programme.
During his last years at the helm of the central bank, Gono clashed with former minister of Indigenisation, Savior Kasukuwere on the implementation of the policy with the retired RBZ governor openly criticising the youthful minister's policies.
For his stance against the way the policy was being implemented, Gono was described by some in Zanu PF as a sell-out and "house nigger" especially when he refused to endorse deals involving Zimplats and six other major firms which would have seen a private consulting company pocketing tens of millions of dollars.
But yesterday, the State media reported that the government climb-down was a major victory for Gono and other policy moderates.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Gono remained modest and said there was nothing wrong in people debating development issues.
"It's a misnomer and inappropriate to call this positive shift in Government thinking a victory for or defeat of anyone. Policy formulation and implementation are not exact sciences where there is one answer to a mathematical question like 1 + 1 which is 2.
"When different minds vigorously debate something and initially differ but eventually sing from the same hymn and page, the victory belongs to the people who will ultimately benefit from a clearer policy position and not individuals.
"The debates were never about personalities but of ideas, and for me, there are more areas which we need to attend to in unison of mind for the benefit of the economy and one of them is how to resolve the country's liquidity challenge.
"It can be resolved easily if we put our heads together. We have experienced worse challenges before and conquered," said the retired Gono, now a full time farmer.
In response to an assertion that he was a moderate in the government system, Gono said: "The stage at which we are in this economy requires soberness of mind and pragmatism in peoples' actions rather than arrogance or extremism to the right or left. I don't know what to call that".
Gono said ultimately it is the nation not individuals who should benefit from the programme.
During his last years at the helm of the central bank, Gono clashed with former minister of Indigenisation, Savior Kasukuwere on the implementation of the policy with the retired RBZ governor openly criticising the youthful minister's policies.
For his stance against the way the policy was being implemented, Gono was described by some in Zanu PF as a sell-out and "house nigger" especially when he refused to endorse deals involving Zimplats and six other major firms which would have seen a private consulting company pocketing tens of millions of dollars.
But yesterday, the State media reported that the government climb-down was a major victory for Gono and other policy moderates.
"It's a misnomer and inappropriate to call this positive shift in Government thinking a victory for or defeat of anyone. Policy formulation and implementation are not exact sciences where there is one answer to a mathematical question like 1 + 1 which is 2.
"When different minds vigorously debate something and initially differ but eventually sing from the same hymn and page, the victory belongs to the people who will ultimately benefit from a clearer policy position and not individuals.
"The debates were never about personalities but of ideas, and for me, there are more areas which we need to attend to in unison of mind for the benefit of the economy and one of them is how to resolve the country's liquidity challenge.
"It can be resolved easily if we put our heads together. We have experienced worse challenges before and conquered," said the retired Gono, now a full time farmer.
In response to an assertion that he was a moderate in the government system, Gono said: "The stage at which we are in this economy requires soberness of mind and pragmatism in peoples' actions rather than arrogance or extremism to the right or left. I don't know what to call that".
Source - dailynews
