Maravi

Inclusive Government fails to curry favour with the West

Inclusive Government fails to curry favour with the West
Farai Mutungi - Opinion
Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:45:00 +0000

DEAR EDITOR - The inclusive Government has failed to curry favour with the major players in the West. Not only is this an indictment on Zimbabwe's right to self-determination, but is a slap in the face to Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai who was a friend of the West not so long ago.

US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee made it a point on Monday that the US would not lift sanctions against Zimbabwe. Many of those people who argued that sanctions were "targetted" only against individuals should now realise that the US and the EU have been using sanctions as a stick with which to "whip Zimbabwe into line".

President Barack Obama said the US would extend sanctions for another year "to protect US national interests". What are these interests in relation to Zimbabwe? The suffering of the general Zimbabwe population is undoubtedly a concern of the US as it not in line with their national interest.

Those who naively thought the US, EU and their allies were concerned about Zimbabweans should now realise that the buck starts and stops with the Land Reform Program which sought to correct imbalances in land ownership and the distribution of the means of production in Zimbabwe.

It is interesting to note that not one Western country has invited Prime Minister Tsvangirai into their country since his inauguration as Prime Minister. Before the formation of the inclusive Government, PM Tsvangirai was a darling of the West. Now he is not! Now he travels more in the region, than he ever did before.

There is a deja vu feeling here. President Mugabe was once the darling of the West, so long as he left 1% of the white population owned 70% of the productive land in Zimbabwe. This was in line with Western interests.

Now that PM Tsvangirai and the MDC parties have agreed that the land acquisitions are irreversible and that the rule of law should prevail with regards to people like Roy Bennett, Jestina Mukoko and others, they are no longer "friends" of the West.

I hope that when Finance Minister Tendai Biti told Haru Mutasa of Al Jazeera that PM Tsvangirai "has friends across the world", he did not mean the erstwhile Western friends who won't even lift sanctions to help the poor. They only find friends who advance their national interests.

I welcome all new inclusive Government ministers to the real world. Interesting that as each day passes, they are getting less and less vocal.

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Farai Mutungi
Leeds, UK

Labels: JAMES MCGEE, NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS

posted by MrK @ 7:38 PM