HARARE – Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono says he stands ready to go to prison if 16 charges of impropriety levelled against him by his former advisor, Munyaradzi Kereke, ever stick.
Gono, speaking for the first time on allegations of impropriety in a week that saw his two employees at the Central Bank being acquitted for the third time on charges pressed by Kereke, the RBZ governor said he will follow due process.
“I will follow due process but am ready to walk to prison if these 16 charges of impropriety are proved. My decision is not make noise about it but follow due process,” Gono told the Daily News on Sunday from Cairo where he was attending the Afreximbank meetings where he is a director of the continental bank.
“I am acutely aware that the public remains confused and anxious for answers to all the 16 or so individual allegations of sabotaging the Zimbabwean economy, allegations of corruption, alleged abuse of office and various conspiracies to ” kill my former advisor by sending snipers in order to silence him.”
“The charges are very serious. I want to assure stakeholders that appropriate channels will be used at the appropriate time to address these serious charges that go to the very core and route of my governorship and trust by those who appointed me and the segment of the economy that I serve and have tried to serve with maximum diligence, commitment, honesty and integrity.
“I have been working for the past 35 years, 25 years of which I have been occupying very senior positions in the banking sector which I entered in 1987 at the level of chief accountant, progressing through the ranks to where I am today.
“10 years of that 35 were spent in industry starting from the lowest (tea-maker-messenger) to accountant. As a family, we have been in business for the last 33 years and as Gideon, I have been in doing chickens at different levels since February, 1973, when my former advisor was 7 months old,” said Gono.
He said he will maturely follow proper procedures to deal with the issues Kereke raised adding he will do so professionally and openly through legal means. Gono has been savaged in recent months by Kereke who accused him of “fraud” and other “crimes” at the central bank.
During the period, Gono maintained stunning silence as the internet went viral with his stories of his alleged misdemeanours.
Turning to the third acquittal of his officers – Phillip Dendere and George Nyahuye –Gono said “the real RBZ family which knows where we are coming from and going, and are bound by true values of work ethics,join our two officers and their families and friends in celebrating another triumph of justice over injustice and the “mighty of right over wrong”.
Dendere and Nyahuye were facing disorderly charges. Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe discharged the duo at the close of the state’s case after ruling that prosecutor Gift Zumbika failed to “prove a prima facie” case against the two.
A fortnight ago, the two were cleared of violence and assault charges which had been brought by Kereke’s driver.
“As stated earlier, the God of justice will and shall prevail against all lies and shorten their legs. This applies not just to the lies we have been preoccupied with since 12 March, 2012 but also to those that have been, and will continue to be, spewed out from the damaged and leaking tankers of malice and instability known to reside in those who have chosen to discredit us for no other reason than the proverbial sour grapes.”
“Unfortunately, the sour grapes have been sold and found some gullible takers at Mbare musika. Fortunately though, history has not recorded many cases of deaths from” thunder,” however noisy and frightening. It is the ” lightning” that always does the job…and in this case, our justice system resembles” lightning”…that follows thunder, sparing or otherwise, those that deserve to be spared through due process and not the noise from the thunder,” said Gono. DailyNews
