Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T ministers, the brady bunch of Cabinet

COMMENT - Right on, Nancy. Zimbabweans should be extremely wary of any neoliberals. All they are in politics for, is to enrich themselves and sell out the nation's resources.

MDC-T ministers, the brady bunch of Cabinet
By: By Nancy Lovedale
Posted: Saturday, July 24, 2010 5:16 am

SO much has been happening in the inclusive Government, so many debates and power positioning by the various actors. A close look at some of the MDC-T ministers in Cabinet reveals some very interesting aspects.

It is interesting to see just how the likes of Finance Minister Tendai Biti, MDC-T Spokesman Nelson Chamisa, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jameson Timba and his predecessor Gorden Moyo, and various other MDC-T ministers have been battling to become relevant and efficient ministers.

These four are not the only ones, but they are the most interesting.

Their fight for relevance sometimes outdoes their intelligence. A few examples would suffice.

Minister Biti, since we saw him spring onto the political scene, has been an animated individual. Having gone through various political parties including Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe Unity Movement and Enoch Dumbutshena's Forum Party, he finally settled for the Movement of Democratic Change party. These three parties provided the young Tendai Laxton Biti an outlet for his energy that many who went to Goromonzi High School with him would attest to. He is rumored to have been as "energetic", for lack of a better word.

Nelson Chamisa, according to sources from Harare Polytechnic, where he allegedly started his "career", is rumored to have been a silent and undeclared student or admirer or Learnmore Jongwe, another animated young man whose energy was often mistaken for intelligence. Jongwe's story is tragic and is a topic for a later discussion.

Mr Timba and Mr Moyo sprung onto the political scene via the "MDC-T backdoor".

These four men have one thing in common. Besides being just interesting characters, they often engage in intellectual battles they never follow-up afterwards.

Mr Biti for instance, always has something that he is angry about. First it was his desire to see Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana fired from their positions, besides the fact that they were appointed when the MDC-T was dillydallying about "entering Government". I have never known a country that spent a day without an AG or a central bank chief. Mr Biti then tried to have Zimbabwe declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country, besides having 25-infinity percent of the world's rough diamond share, an array of other precious gems, the highest literacy rate in Africa and the best touristic resource. Now he is proposing to have a "Diamond Act" so that he can divert all proceeds from diamond sales to his preferred sectors and "ministries".

The finance minister is also very self-contradictory. On his website, he has a link for the public to give their input into the budgetary process, but fails to consult the same people through their representatives, the Members of Parliament. Biti's excuse is that the MPs were busy with the constitutional outreach programme! Last year, when he presented his budget, this was also an issue. He promised to consult MPs and stakeholders in 2010, but failed on that promise, yet again. One wonders what exactly he means when he argues that he is in government to bring some "sanity" to the running of the country when he fails on such a simple task.

Mr Biti is also interesting, just to watch. One would be excused to think that he always knows what he is saying, given the exuberance of his persona. This is a man who, in one interview, described President Mugabe as "very Victorian" because he happens to drink tea at four o'clock and because his manner is akin to that of an English gentleman. Biti oftentimes shifts from praising to condemning President Mugabe, depending on his mood swing -- and it is quite apparent. One wonders whethersuch mood swings sometimes affect the way he runs the finance ministry.

Mr Nelson Chamisa is another interesting character who has a tendency to leave fights in mid air. He never followed up his fight with Media, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu or Minister Nicholas Goche. Chamisa is on record saying that the MDC-T is in the inclusive Government to "take power from Zanu-PF", yet at every media opportunity he threatens that the MDC-T will soon leave government because of "Zanu-PF's intransigency", whatever that means. He also claimed that he will teach Minister Shamu about information and IT, despite the fact that Minister Shamu has had wide experience as a broadcaster and as minister.

Mr Chamisa is also a victim of his own craftsmanship. If you follow closely the way he uses words, you are sure to get confused. His ideology is mixed up and he never seems to know what exactly he (or the MDC-T) represents. He prefers to answer questions that are simple, for instance, why Roy Bennett is not Deputy Minister of Agriculture. But he dodges issues like the MDC-T's proposal to include homosexual rights in the new constitution. Sometimes, he is completely silent on crucial issues, like the parallel government or the "reshuffling" of MDC-T ministers, or the allegations of violence in the MDC-T. Infact, he once blamed factional fighting in the MDC-T on Zanu-PF until violence broke out at Harvet House, their headquarters. This time he could only keep quiet.

Mr Chamisa is also on record claiming that the "party of excellence" will ask all their Cabinet members to compile a list of their assets in the name of good governance. That also was never followed up, just like his claims that the MDC-T was investigating corruption and would fire all culprits. A report of that investigation, if it ever happened, was never produced.

Turning to two interesting characters, Mr Timba and Mr Moyo. Minister Timba claimed, in the Prime Minister's Newsletter that the PM had read the riot act to Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity, Mr George Charamba. Mr Charamba's crime was that he had clarified a position that the media never bothered to investigate -- that PM Tsvangirai was going to reassign (or fire) some of the staff working in his office and/or hire new ones.

Mr Charamba merely clarified that the staff in the PM's office were appointed through the Public Service Commission and could only be reassigned or fired through that department. The PSC vets and hires all civil servants and no other civil servant has any power to hire, fire or reassign those positions. In any case, the PSC has to match the skills of these people with the available jobs. Timba said Mr Charamba has no mandate to speak on behalf of government, yet he is the Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity and has to clarify such issues. ironically, Mr Timba worked in the same ministry with Mr Charamba when he was Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Publicity. How he fails to understand Mr Charamba's role beggars belief.

Mr Moyo, who also worked as Minister of State in the PM's Office, also clashed with Mr Charamba over a bilateral investment protection agreement (BIPPA) that was "signed" by PM Tsvangirai and South Korea. Again, Mr Charamba said that such agreements are signed by the president. Any announcement of such agreements is made via the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, not through the PM's (or MDC-T's) office.

This is the calibre of the ministers from the MDC-T, who fail to grasp issues that are important in running the business of government. Other MDC-T ministers and MPs, e.g. Thamsanqa Mahlangu, Theresa Makone, Fidelis Mhashu, Pishau Muchauraya, Obert Gutu, etc are just as interesting.

Given the apparent battle for power between PM Tsvangirai and Mr Biti, one watches from the sidelines for another "bomb" to explode in the MDC-T. Mr Biti's announcement of a wage freeze in his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review Statement, was a slap in the face of PM Tsvangirai who categorically claimed, earlier this year, that there would be no wage freeze, and that all civil servants would be paid a "living wage".

In hindsight, we can only conclude that the inclusive Government was a blessing in disguise. One wonders what would have become of Zimbabwe if the MDC-T had gone into power on its own. Zimbabweans, like Zambians, would have lost everything to big businesses and the IMF/WB would be running Zimbabwe right now.

Labels: CABINET, MDC, NANCY LOVEDALE, NEOLIBERALISM, PRIVATISATION, TENDAI BITI, ZAMBIA

posted by MrK @ 5:21 AM