Former Governr of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono says politicians from across the political divide benefited from the bank's various pr...
Former Governr of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono says politicians from across the political divide benefited from the bank's various programmes.
He said in a statement :"I recall in October/ November 2009 when the former
President, Cde RG Mugabe, former Prime Minister Dr M R Tsvangirai had to use a
quasi-fiscal intervention to acquire the PM’s Highlands home for $1,5m just to
settle a dispute over the residence status of Dr Tsvangirai which had become
one of the sticky issues and had led to an MDC-T disengagement from Government
of National Unity( GNU)16 October,2009). Approval to pay for the house was
given to me on 13November 2009 and the State acquired this “ debt” and eventually
wrote it off.
Both taxpayers belonging and not belonging to MDC-T have
had to foot that bill. I don’t call it a burden when you weigh what could have
negatively happened to our economy and government had the then PM remained
outside Government and what eventually, then happened after the MDC-T returned
to the table.
The economy under GNU flourished.Some costs are of a
national character and we must avoid the temptations to portray ourselves as
paragons of virtue when in fact, given the facts, we can all see the rationale
for State interventions at particular times in our history. At the time of the
the said quasi-fiscal intervention related to the personal residence of the
late PM( MHDSRIEP), my brother and learned friend was working in the then PM’s
Office as advisor or in some other capacity.
As stated already, Brother Magaisa, and company talk of
transparency and good governance that comes with publication of information;
this is positive debate but then people should not be selective in their
dissemination of information as seems to have been the case in the BSR. Why
were prominent figures in the MDC-A and MDC-T not mentioned?
Hon. T Khupe, Acting President of MDC-A Hon.Welschman
Ncube, the late Hon. Gasela( MHDSRIEP)late Hon Dumiso Dabengwa( MHDSRIEP) and
many others from MDC-T and MDC-A as well as other political and social
formations who were not published in the said BSR were beneficiaries of this
noble program. Several Hon Members of Parliament and Senators, across the
divide, also benefited from other State Programs for which they were not
required to pay back. The issue of cost and benefit must not however be a one
legged accounting entry.We must account for the benefit the State got from the
individual concerned.
During the same difficult period, under a program
code-named The Health Sectors Skills Retention Scheme, an RBZ-initiative meant
to retain our doctors and health workers (who were about to leave the country
for greener pastures leaving their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters
without adequate attention) saw us “give” to individual doctors cars which till
today have never been paid for neither has Government asked them to pay.
Some in the Labour Movement could also be having some
repayments to make and I’m sure Minister of Finance will never need a
supplementary budget again for the next decade if everyone pays up.
All local authorities, Mayors, present and past and
councilors from Harare to Bulawayo, Norton, Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Gweru, Mutare,
Masvingo, Bindura who were beneficiaries of various programs of our attempts to
rescusitate our economy may also expect to be put on notice, thanks to BSR.
The AMH, publishers of the Independent and Newsday,
Zimpapers Group, Financial Gazette, The ANZ, publishers of the Daily News
stable, ZBC and others may need to pay back what the State paid to them via the
Reserve Bank whether directly or by way of subsidies for any of their inputs
and raw materials when they needed assistance at those critical times.
I question and challenge the accuracy and authenticity of
the documentation before the good Doctor. I can categorically state that he has
been given half-backed data and information for purposes far removed from
telling the truth.The good Doctor may need to go back to his sources. I am a
banker, an accountant and a chartered secretary trained to keep accurate
records of events and my experience as an accountant does help a bit to
understand issues more clearly than if I was not. I would urge caution against
taking those numbers and information as gospel truth.
Today’s e-world can be treacherous… people can create
false documents that look official.
For all I know and given the respect I hold for
vaMagaisa, I think it’s unfair to do this to him. Va Magaisa is a champion of
honesty and I have never before had occasion to question the integrity of his
writings, until today.
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