Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Accolades that mean nothing

Accolades that mean nothing
Tendai Midzi - Opinion
Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

DEAR EDITOR - One event this week attracted my attention. Finance Minister Tendai Biti was named the 'Best Finance Minister in Africa' for 2009. I am sure even the minister taken by surprise when such news was announced. He must have been shocked that he was named the best financial guru for the continent.

The accolade given by Euromoney magazine (a financial markets publication) at their 2009 Excellence Dinner, has indeed lost meaning. Infact, it either serves as a tool to further western interests in parts of the world; or is ignorant of the situation obtaining on the ground in Zimbabwe.

For Minister Biti to be named the best finance minister when there are the likes of South Africa's former finance minister Trevor Manuel, who served under the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe; and Nigerian Finance Minister, Mansur Muhtar, is a total joke. He has only been in that post for eight months, and his policies, if any, are still to be appreciated.

Minister Biti, in any case, has advocated policies that were formulated by then Acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Reserve Bank Governor Dr. Gideon Gono. The policy of running parallel currencies, which brought inflation down, and the idea of paying stipends to civil servants are all clearly articulated in Minister Chinamasa's budget as acting minister.

We are yet to see what exactly it is that Minister Biti did to deserve such an accolade.

The western propaganda machinery has indeed gone awry. Institutions that confer such titles only discredit themselves by engaging in such mindless propaganda.

Interestingly, Minister Biti had just come from a Sunday meeting with these heavyweights. I am sure he felt relieved that the accolade was conferred after that meeting which slammed the G-20 for not allowing African countries a voice in the IMF. Otherwise, Minister Biti would have been embarassed to even mention his prize to these heavyweights.

Biti's latest accolade reminds me of the endless "human rights awards" awarded to Zimbabweans by the US and the west in the last ten years. These are meaningless awards meant to neutralise the relevance of Zanu PF as an important political party in Zimbabwe. Such accolades have become meaningless pieces of propaganda.

Labels: FINANCE MINISTER, IMF, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 5:54 PM