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(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T’s parallel govt treacherous

MDC-T’s parallel govt treacherous
Prof Jonathan Moyo, MP - Opinion
Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:19:00 +0000

TODAY marks the first anniversary of the Global Political Agreement signed by Zanu PF and the two MDC formations. Given our country’s recent and rather troubled past, this is by any measure a major milestone that Zimbabweans across the political divide should celebrate with unqualified national pride. It’s a big day, for sure.

But there is also a reason to be cautious in our celebration. This is because, while it is a self-evident truth that the current situation of the Inclusive Government is indubitably good for the peace and order that it has restored with better prospects for economic recovery, growth and development in the country, there are also some looming developments on the horizon that are worrying not only about the future of the GPA but also the sustainability of political stability and development that are needed for any inter-party initiative to succeed.

The problem about our future prospects has to do with some dirty games that are going on within the MDC-T. If this party were to be judged by its adherence to traditional truths, it would appear that the wisdom of the compelling Shona saying that rine manyanga hariputirwi (that which has horns cannot be concealed) has eluded its ambitious if not reckless mandarins in the office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and their foreign backers who have over the last seven months naively believed that the illegal parallel government they have been setting up is a secret despite its visible and ugly horns.

As Zimbabweans celebrate the first anniversary of the GPA and acknowledge its positive achievements that are quite significant, they must also contend with the profoundly disturbing truth that the Prime Minister’s Office is being abused to setup a patronage based parallel government which is not transparent, not accountable and illegal and which is run by self-indulgent incumbents who are exclusively drawn from the MDC-T and who are earning scandalous top up salaries that are as high as US$7 000,00 a month.

Whereas this is bad, what is worse is that this illegal and neo-colonial parallel government is wholly operating outside the very same GPA that the MDC-T and its foreign handlers are incredulously claiming is being violated by Zanu-PF. There can be no worse violation of the GPA than setting up a parallel government.

Indeed, following undeniable revelations of the existence of an illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office, it is now clear to anyone who cares to understand what is going on that the MDC-T and its American and European backers are using the GPA merely as a smokescreen to cover up the operations of the parallel government structures that the Prime Minister’s Office is setting up in the hope of effecting yet another "Final Push" but this time from under the nose of the Government itself.

Notwithstanding the irrefutable existence and mandate of the heavily funded illegal parallel government structure that works from the Prime Minister’s Office, and while its size is still to be determined based on available but yet to be analysed information whose contents, breadth and depth are shocking even to the most neutral amongst us, there can be no doubt that what has already been published about the matter raises troubling questions including the following:

- To what extent has national security been compromised by functionaries in the Prime Minister’s Office, such as Mr. Ian Makone, who have access to classified information as senior officials employed under the Public Service Commission in the official Government of Zimbabwe when they are also architects and beneficiaries of the illegal parallel government that has been topping up salaries and organising dubious workshops, conferences and retreats from a slush fund under the so-called World Bank Multi-donor Trust Fund?

- What has been the level and quantum of financial prejudice to the Fiscus through non payment of income tax and what damage has been caused to the general economic interests of the State by the illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office?

- To what degree has the parallel government impeded, obstructed, undermined and subverted national healing being undertaken by the official Inclusive Government and how has that generated a new centre of polarisation and conflict between the parallel and official governments; among unequally remunerated civil servants; within the poorly paid Police and Army; between the parties to the GPA and within MDC-T factions? What are the threats to peace, order and political stability in the country arising from these conflicts?

- What is the impact of the illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office on the GPA and what issues does it raise about the MDC-T’s commitment to good governance, transparency and accountability?

- Which foreign countries are funding the illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office, how much have they given and what is the role of the World Bank in that scheme?

These and related questions cannot be answered by a newspaper article or column but by an impartial authority such as Sadc. For all the loud and persistent noise that the MDC-T has made to Sadc about Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, Roy Bennett and provincial governors, it is now impossible to escape the inevitable conclusion that all that noise has been mischievously engineered to cover up the simple but dangerous fact that a faction of the MDC-T has been putting up an illegal parallel government since February 13, 2008 with funding from the US and some European governments who have always wanted to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

This is clearly an issue that should concern the Sadc Troika. The issue is much more serious than any alleged violation of the GPA by Zanu PF that has been claimed by the MDC-T.

What makes the issue particularly serious is that Minister of Finance Tendai Biti has been starving the budgets of key State organs, especially the Police, the Zimbabwe National Army, the Zimbabwe Prison Services and the Central Intelligence Organisation while also blunting key public service areas such as agriculture, health and education in the hope of giving space to the illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office to effect regime change.

Minister’s Biti’s latest effort to deny the private sector of the much needed IMF funds which he has sought to block without Cabinet Authority is another example of a sinister action designed to frustrate the official government in favour of the illegal parallel government whose civil servants are earning up to US$7 000,00 a month.

Related to this, it is notable that this illegal government is also linked to the agenda and functions of the over 2 300 NGOs that have setup their colony in the country with funding from the same countries that are funding the illegal parallel government in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Jacob Mafume, who was until recently a highly paid USAid official in the US Embassy has been hired in the Prime Minister’s Office to coordinate the NGO colony and the illegal parallel government with a mandate that includes directing the ongoing controversial constitution-making process whose main purpose is to prepare and secure votes for MDC-T in the next general election.

The agenda of the NGOs whose funding was secured by Prime Minister Tsvangirai during his tour of Europe and America when he raised some US$202 which has not come into the official Government is to make Zimbabweans live from hand to mouth as dependents of handouts at the expense of the preferred developmental projects which are not possible as long as the illegal economic sanctions still supported by the MDC-T remain.

In a nutshell, what this means is that there is a direct and sinister relationship between the illegal parallel government being setup in the Prime Minister’s Office and the continuation of the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the US and European governments that want Zimbabweans to remain as perpetual recipients of humanitarian handouts in the false name of good governance.

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*Professor Jonathan Moyo is the independent House of Assembly Member for Tsholotsho North, and former Information and Publicity Minister.

Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC

posted by MrK @ 5:45 PM