THIS IS NOT A TIME TO SCORE CHEAP POINTS

I find the current media exchanges between Gideon Gono and Tendai Biti unfortunate. At a time when we are trying to build investor confidence we seem to be going about it in the wrong way. The recent leaking of Gono’s letters to the media before they have been delivered to the intended recipients shows that Gono is playing politics. One can’t help but ask why if there was such compelling evidence against the Minister and his law firm it has taken this long to prosecute them? Why did Gono wait until Biti started questioning his suitability for the post of Central bank governor before coming out with this case? If the case has been there since 2004 or thereabouts why has it never come to court?
I am not in a position to say whether Biti is corrupt or not because that can only be proven by Biti himself but I believe I am in a position to critically analyse Gono’s actions. For a man who claims to do things openly I believe it is incumbent upon Gono to let the law take its course without trying and convicting Biti in the media. There is no doubt in my mind that Gono or those close to him deliberately leaked the letters to the media in an effort to humiliate or even smear Biti. Gono has been known to use smear tactics to silence his critics and to intimidate those who threaten his unfettered control of Zimbabwe’s fiscal and monetary policy. David Butau, former Guruve North MP, gave an insight into the workings of Gono and his cronies at the central bank. Although not entirely innocent Butau showed how Gono reacts to investigations into his conduct of central bank and government business since arriving at the RBZ. Everyone who has questioned him has had a case of forex externalisation pulled from somewhere and splashed in the media. For Butau’s full statement go to http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1354/2008-01-17.html . Here you will be able to read Butau’s side of the story. I cannot confirm the veracity of the allegations but these allegations are significant in that they are made by someone from inside Zanu PF with some knowledge of how the system works. Faced with indefinite remand prison the young MP ‘legged’ it to the UK. His innocence or otherwise is still a matter for debate.
Looking at this case between Gono and Biti one cannot help but see similarities between it and many others used by Zanu PF and the central bank to silence critics. Remember Chris Kuruneri, James Makamba, Mutumwa Mawere, etc? However, since there is a chance that Biti and his firm may have broken the ‘law’ it is important that they are brought to court to answer the charges that Gono makes in the media. It is also important that more than just deny the allegations Tendai Biti demands his day in court. The only way to restore his standing is to demand that the central bank take him and his firm to court where he will have a chance to prove his innocence or otherwise. Those of us in the court of public opinion await the outcome of this case with baited breath.
On a different level I believe that Gono should acknowledge that his actions led the country up the garden path into an uncertain and perilous future. Reading his letters one does not seem to see any acknowledgement that his actions accelerated the process of economic decline as more and more people took their forex out of the local banking system fearing that Gono would raid it to fund Zanu PF’s agenda. While he is quick to credit himself for the successes recorded by the new Unity Government and to accuse Biti of plagiarising STERP from him Gono makes no effort to highlight his failures. Reading his letters one would think that Zimbabwe is a successful economy. One, therefore, wonders why with all these successes the economy is in doldrums. It is also difficult to see the difference between Gono’s role as outlined in his letter and the duties of the Finance Minister. It is this quasi-fiscal role of the central governor in the last few years that, in my opinion, accelerated the pace of economic decline. Because Gono no longer had to answer to any politician he became a law unto to himself. This is what makes his position untenable because he is unlikely to remember that his remit is to run the country’s monetary policy not the fiscal policy. He has wielded too much power to an extent that he no longer understands his role as central bank governor. Given this the only solution that will allow this new government to move forward with its new agenda is for him to step aside. This is nothing personal but it is rooted in the idea that new thinking needs to permeate the central bank’s policies. Unfortunately Gono does not represent new thinking neither is he willing to adopt a new approach. Gono believes that he is the best thing ever to have happened to Zimbabwe’s central bank and the arrogance is very evident in his letters. In most democracies a new government appoints a new governor of the central bank and a new attorney general not because the incumbents are incompetent but because for change to happen there is need for new blood. In Zimbabwe’s case I think the tag of incompetence can also be attached to the current incumbent of the Central Bank governor’s post.
My advice for both Biti and Gono is that this is not a time for scoring cheap political points. Zimbabweans want their lives to get better and not to see people wasting time on non issues. Biti has the mandate to run our fiscal policy as well as to oversee the running of the monetary policy hence he needs to focus on this. Gono must realise that all good things come to an end and that his time has come to an end. All Zimbabweans educated or not, economists and layman are agreed that Gono has failed except of course those who have benefited from his largesse. It is time for the two protagonists to sit down and deal with their issues away from the media spotlight. While they are scoring cheap points in the media Zimbabwe continues to burn. No one man should be bigger than Zimbabwe. I feel that Gono has had his chance so it is now time to pass the baton.