(NYASATIMES) BJ hits out at Mutharika for lending Zimbabwe cash

BJ hits out at Mutharika for lending Zimbabwe cash
By Nyasa Times
Published: November 26, 2009

Malawi opposition politician, Brown James (BJ) Mpinganjira has criticized President Bingu wa Mutharika government for lending Zimbabwe cash. Mpinganjira said there are areas President Mutharika is doing well but observed that there are also areas of great concern such as the loan to Zimbabwe.

“How he [Mutharika] lends US$100 million to Zimbabwe, but surely this is the country that doesn’t have that cash,” said BJ.

“When we receive monies from the IMF, from World Bank, it is usually in the range of US$20 million, US$26 million and we all go to town every paper, every radio carries that and here we are, we are getting US$26 million from IMF and we in turn are lending US$100 million to Zimbabwe,” said Mpinganjira on Capital Radio.

“Surely that’s to say the least, that misconception. That is wrong. It should not have happened,” he said.

The money was lent to Zimbabwe in June 2007 loan via the Reserve Bank of Malawi to enable the Zimbabwean government to buy maize in Malawi.

The loan, guaranteed by the Malawi government on the basis of a personal understanding between President Mutharika and his close political pal President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, is due for repayment at the end of December.

General Manager of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Wilson Banda told a news conference that Zimbabwe government is failing to pay back the loan.

Mpinganjira also rebutted allegations that he influenced Mozambique to pull out of a project to establish a shipping route from landlocked Malawi to the Indian Ocean, along the Shire and Zambezi rivers.

“That’s shear madness. I don’t believe that there are too many people who share that madness,” said Mpinganjira after reports indicated that President Mutharika named him during a DPP caucus to have played a role in Mozambique’s withdraw from the project.

However, Mpinganjira said the dream project is good but not necessarily for Malawi now.

“I admit it is a very good project for Malawi but I have said all the time that the sheer size of it, the sheer economics of it, the amount of money to be spent on it probably this is not the right time for that.

“Probably we need to spend that money on other areas of development and probably 10 to 15 years from now that will be a viable project,” he said.

Added the former minister: “As of now, I have never believed that we should be spending that much money when we don’t have schools, when we don’t have hospitals. I think that sort of money would be better spent here on other development projects.”

Mpinganjira maintained that he has not been in contact with Mozambique President Armando Gebuza and that he has no personal connections.