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(TALKZIMBABWE) President right on country's recovery

President right on country's recovery
By: By Frank Banda
Posted: Saturday, July 10, 2010 6:21 am

WESTERN media and Euro-centric analysts went into a frenzy this week after President Mugabe gave a speech at a Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting on Thursday.

The President rightly said that Zimbabwe will recover "by her wits and resources" and the likes of the Movement for Democratic Change will have to stop wasting time on "useless initiatives". One such "useless initiative" is the belief that Zimbabweans will be saved by help from the West.

Eric Bloch -- a Eurocentric economist -- denounced the President's assertion claiming that said Zimbabwe cannot recover without Western aid, increased trade and foreign investment.

This is true, but Mr Bloch read the President out of context; as international analysts and their accompanying media often do, or choose to do.

They responded with the same level of ignorance when the president once said, "Zimbabwe is mine". The president's wit is often misconstrued by those people who have a different agenda on Zimbabwe.

The hatred of President Mugabe has made some people, who are considered experts in their field, sound like novices.

President Mugabe's speech was meant to show the world that Zimbabwe has sufficient resources to take itself out of its current problems, considering all other conditions are equal.

There are many ways of conveying this message and President Mugabe only used one -- and the anti-Mugabe lobby went amok.

Conditional aid, which in itself is meant to benefit the West, has no place in developing Zimbabwe.

How can countries that impose sanctions on a country be seen as concerned about the same country's development?

Mr Bloch should know, as an 'economist', that the current international trade regime is skewed against developing countries.

The debates at the World Trade Organisation -- on agriculture, services, sanitary and phytosanitary measures -- have been mired in conflict because they tend to favour the West.

Various discussions have broken down because of this and demonstrations against Western manipulation of the world trading regime have been seen everywhere -- in Doha and elsewhere.

For centuries, foreign investment (and divestment) has not benefitted the African continent in ways that are expected of a rich continent.

Politics has been a major impediment to Africa's development; and economists like Mr Bloch should not only look at conventional economics; but should consider various factors that affect development in Africa.

Aid is investment; and countries that give aid want a return on their investment. So far, they have been as greedy as to want everything from that investment.

This is why they oppose our own initiatives -- like the indigenisation and empowerment initiatives -- which eat into their profits.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are banks, period. They make money from lending. That is why they want Zimbabwe to repay its debt; so they can get a return on their investment. Any policy they will suggest for Zimbabwe is predicated on the need to realise profit from their investment.

If Zimbabwe is so poor, why do they not give the country a moratorium, or cancel the debt outright?

A new economic thinking is needed. The likes of Erich Bloc and Godfrey Kanyenze (and the Washington and London economists) have failed to come up with the right kind of ideas necessary for Africa.

Where Africa has taken the lead, they have stood in the way. Politics plays a key role, as pointed out above. There's no way Africa can listen to this neo-liberal reasoning (or nonsense) anymore. It hasn't benefited Africa up to now and it will never benefit Africa in future.

"Useless initiatives" indeed.

How can a country like Britain, with billions in debt, be expected to provide US$10 billion in aid to Zimbabwe?

The EU will keep you on your toes thinking much will come from them. There are countries in the region that are near collapse. They will provide for their embattled kith and kin in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS) before they think about Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T.

The president, as usual, has scored another ace. Zimbabwe (and Africa) will indeed recover "by her wits and resources".

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*Frank Banda is a columnist for TalkZimbabwe.com

Labels: FRANK BANDA, IMF, MUGABE, NEOLIBERALISM, WTO

posted by MrK @ 1:16 PM