By Gift Phiri
Attempts by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono to wriggle out of the heap of trouble he invented for himself through his quasi-fiscal activities are nothing, but hopeless.
While the state media has been conspiring with him to cover his back, no amount of spin doctoring will help him as two key issues arise from his conduct at the apex bank.
Having run up a largely $1,1 billion odious debt, Gono must be relieved of his duties in terms of the RBZ Act and, secondly, nothing in terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) will let him off the hook for crimes committed against the suffering masses.
While the RBZ chief claims government owes his institution a staggering $1,4 billion and which money will leave him with $300 million if paid, the question remains on why he deviated from his core mandate in the first place? Gono might have been able to cleverly shift blame on President Robert Mugabe’s government for ordering him to print money for buying scorch carts and seed maize, but is it also not a known factor that he bankrupted Zimbabwe’s lender-of-last-resort to shore up Zanu PF?
Therefore, isn’t it disingenuous for Gono to play the victim and claim: “my management team spent US$1, 1 billion either buying tractors and scotch-carts or simply went on a debt-contracting spree and blew away the money in support of non-existent programmes or, at worst, the whole amount is a Gono debt which he must find a way to pay.”
Instead of trying to obfuscate his role in killing the economy by way of obliterating the Zimbabwe dollar, oiling a repressive regime and routing an unprecedented hyperinflation on the country’s economy, wouldn’t it be better for him to try and reach out to the very same povo who bore the brunt of ruinous policies such as the acquisition of guns and ammunition from Michael Peter Hirschman?
In lieu of the 2008 election atrocities where close to 300 people were reportedly killed or abducted in CAM and Mahindra trucks that he helped acquire for security forces, how does he answer for this aberration and coincidence? If anyone needs a reminder, a review of Hirschman’s court evidence or testimony would show you the RBZ was one of the Zimbabwean arms dealer’ biggest clients in recent years and we all know what happened to innocent civilians such as Tonderai Ndira in subsequent times.
For presiding over the world’s fastest shrinking economy and deviating from his main role of managing inflation, interest rates and exchange rates, Gono is guilty of financial crimes against the people, especially economic displacement. It is such a public disservice and insult to many a pensioner, whose savings were wiped out by an obsequious governor and expedient political player now trying to absolve himself for the chaos that engulfed Zimbabwe for nearly a decade.
Gono has imperilled this economy, he has continued to do so and is one of the many reasons why the West refuses to give any meaningful support to our country. With the people still reeling under a harsh socio-economic climate, it would be better if he goes and, to be honest, only Mugabe and the inclusive government expedient politics have kept him in office.
Instead of gloating and thumping his nose at the very same masses about his “bacossi economy”, he should actually be apologising and taking a conciliatory tone or approach. On the other hand, Gono remains an outstanding GPA issue for vandalising the economy and failing his RBZ duties as provided for by the main bank’s Act.
