Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Gono is going nowhere: Mugabe

Gono is going nowhere: Mugabe
Ralph Mutema
Mon, 25 May 2009 20:11:00 +0000

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said on Monday that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr. Gideon Gono will remain in his position regardless of the amount of pressure from Britain, the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change party and elsewhere.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC accuses Dr. Gono of policies that contributed to Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and is pushing for Gono to be ousted, saying his reappointment for another five-year term last November violated the Global Political Agreement signed with President Mugabe and paving the way for the formations of an inclusive Government..

"Those in Britain and elsewhere are not happy that he is where he is, still (at) the top of the Reserve Bank," said the President on ZTV - the state television broadcaster - speaking at the funeral of Dr Gono's elder brother, Peter.

"Within the country, in the inclusive (power-sharing) government, there are those who don't want him, but I say he will not go," said President Mugabe.

"He is not a thief, he has done no wrong. Prove the wrong he has done," Mugabe added, praising Dr. Gono as a hard-working civil servant.

"That's the crime he is alleged to have committed -- that he stood by this man Robert Mugabe, who must collapse so that there is regime change."

“But knives are out for this man. They are sharpened knives aimed at beheading this man. Hapana asingazive kuti nenyaya yemasanctions musimboti yedu yakavaRBZ, ndiko kwakabva rubatsiro rwenyika (everyone knows that sanctions hit us bad. All assistance came from the RBZ),” said President Mugabe as he got cheers from the crowd at the Gonos’ homestead in Buhera - a district in the province of Manicaland, Zimbabwe.

On Wednesday, Tsvangirai said the appointment of the central bank governor and the attorney-general were the only issues that stood in the way of the full implementation of a power-sharing agreement reached last September.

The MDC has since asked regional bloc Southern African Development Community (Sadc), which brokered the deal, to resolve the dispute.

Peter Gono's funeral was attended by Harare Governor and Resident Minister David Karimanzira; Health and Child Welfare Deputy Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora; Minister of Media and Information and Publicity Webster Shamu; Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri; Central Intelligence Organisation director-general Retired Brigadier-General Happyton Bonyongwe; theMedia and Information Commission chair Dr Tafataona Mahoso and Tsholotsho South Member of the House of Assembly Professor Jonathan Moyo. Senior RBZ officials were also in attendance.

Dr Gono lost a younger brother last year.

Zimbabwe is trying to convince international donors to contribute 8.5 billion dollars (6.1 billion euros) over three years to revive the economy.

Major donors like the United States and former colonial power Britain said they want to see President Mugabe make more political reforms first.

Zimbabwe has so far received more than one billion dollars in credits for private firms, mainly from African lenders.

Labels: GIDEON GONO, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

posted by MrK @ 8:59 PM