Exiled Zimbabweans are up in arms against the failure of the Constitutional reform outreach team co-chaired by Douglas Mwonzora (left) and Paul Mangwana (right) but are they justified in demanding the cash strapped nation to spent the funds they do not have for the sake of reaching out to the exiles?
They fled their country in droves when the Party that waged a war against settler rule in their country became deluded with the vicissitudes of power and went on a rampage against them to remain entrenched in the corridors of power.
They lost all they had worked for and started afresh in faraway lands often taking up menial jobs for which they were overqualified and would never consider performing in their beloved native country.
They waged their own war against Zanu PF oppression and made huge sacrifices to see the back of Zanu PF but the Liberation struggle hardened party refused to yield even when it lost elections.
The war of attrition between Zanu PF and Zimbabwe citizens it unwittingly displaced into the diaspora is not by any stretch of imagination anywhere near completion.
That is so because Zanu PF retains a huge chunk of power that it does not deserve and is abusing it to remain in the limelight.
The displaced Zimbabweans are often touted as the lost brains that Zimbabwe needs to turn around its ravaged economy and start on the road to socio-political and economic prosperity that was so evident in the early days of the country’s attainment of freedom from colonial rule.
But on closer analysis they may not fit the bill of lost brains after all.
When the country turned a new leaf and embarked on a flawed SADC imposed coalition governance political dispensation currently obtaining the so called mediocre brains that remained in the country crafted a roadmap to the restoration of the country’s lost political, economic and social glamour.
For the first time in the country’s history political space opened for the so called displaced brainiacs of the country to input into accelerated reconstruction of the country.
Unbridled Zanu PF political violence most had ran away from subsided dramatically and hyper inflation that had pauperized the entire nation was tamed through the adoption of multicurrency use in economic transactions.
Fuel shortages that had crippled economic mobility vanished in no time at all.
Day to day living necessities that had vanished into the dark alleys of informal racketeering are now in abundance in formal retail outlets.
Educational and Health infrastructure that had been abandoned by workers has been reclaimed and is now back on stream.
There are teething problems facing the coalition government that require the input of its brainiacs to overcome but when the Premier tried to reach out to them for help by inviting the displaced citizens to consider returning to their homeland and help in its reconstruction the response was shocking.
The so called brainiacs booed and harangued their Premier for daring reaching out to them and imploring considering returning to their homes.
So disorderly were they that the Premier left without making any headway with his appeal to them to consider returning to their homeland.
Debate that followed the Premier’s embarrassing confrontation with Zimbabwe diasporans particularly those ensconced in the UK seemed to suggest that the displaced Zimbabweans had misgivings about the language used by the Premier and the lack of tangible security improvement in the country.
For the UK exiled Zimbabweans there were too many reported incidents of lawlessness, no guarantees of jobs for them if they decided to return as requested by the Premier and no signs to show that President Mugabe’s dictatorial practices had been brought under control to a point where his powers were no longer open to abuse.
Coming from the brainiacs lost by the country the concerns were not completely misplaced but they indicated that perhaps the displaced Zimbabweans were not the lost brains the country needed at this juncture in its history.
Zimbabwe’s brainiacs of the moment appeared to be those that remained and weathered the storm of Zanu PF impunity and misrule.
They appeared the people with the nerve to confront the country’s hardships with determination and dedication to succeed otherwise they would sink with it if they did not sacrifice their energies to change their environment.
The displaced brainiacs appeared to be more comfortable to be bothered with the task of rebuilding their country in circumstances where their services were likely to be hugely underpaid for in comparison to what they were earning in foreign sanctuaries they had migrated to.
But still there are projects that they can help the so called less academically qualified and unstrategic fellow citizens that have been unfortunate enough not to have the means nor the capacities to run away from Zanu PF oppression as their diaspora counterparts did even if they wished to.
Now the diasporans are proving beyond any reasonable that they are no political brainiacs nor are they economic saviours the country yearns for despite the belief commonly held about them.
While the struggling government in their homeland is looking up to the displaced citizens to take up the challenge and reinforce it with novel ideas they have gained from other countries about workable economic strategies, transparent political governance and supportive social programs the exiled citizens are nowhere near that ideal.
The Zimbabwean exiles in their vast majority yearn to return to their country, not as entrepreneurs but rather, as workers which does not help the government of the day struggling as it are to find workable solutions for employment creation.
The current Constitution reform program and National reconciliation and healing objectives are a case in point.
The government has set itself the target of reforming the Constitution that many opponents of the former exclusive Zanu PF regimes passionately singled out as the central cause of the abuse of power by the ruling elite.
In doing so the so called less educated and unstrategic Zimbabweans still trapped in the country have been resourceful and sought external help to finance the process which has been dogged by numerous obstacles from the Zanu PF party that feels threatened by Constitutional provisions that will plug the holes it has been exploiting to retain power.
The exiled Zimbabweans have been the worst victims of Zanu PF Constitutional manipulation and are itching to have a say in the reform program but the government seems disinterested in their input especially when they are demanding that the outreach programmes be extended to foreign lands when the government had to beg funding to cover the local outreach programmes.
The government has recently made it clear that it will thus not be unduly bothered about reaching out to its exiled citizens in the Constitution reform exercise because it lacks the logistical, time and financial resources to do so.
Instead of the exiled Citizens mobilizing their resources and closing the gap that forms the grounds for their exclusion in a critical initiative they have deep interest in they are already at what they know best and that is criticizing the government for failing to cater for their inclusion in the program.
But the resources the government says are in short supply need not be a reason for their exclusion. All they require is to obtain Government approval through the Constitution Reform Steering Committee to set up a Website where they can input into the program officially and such a website will not cost the fare of a return flight for someone to travel from Harare to them to hear their views on the Constitution.
How a group of people commonly referred to as the drained brains of the country fails to come together and engage their government and set up such an easy yet efficient communication strategy to avert excuses about resources leaves one wondering whether the exiles are indeed interested brainiacs or indifferent rabble rousers.
The other issue the Zimbabwe Diasporans have always harped about is the question of the rule of law but not a single one among them has ever dared draft a motion for his her MP to move in Parliament calling upon the Government to uphold the rule of law at all times.
People are abducted tortured and murdered in cold blood by politically sponsored hooligans and State Security agents while those that plunder and pillage property belonging to others are not brought to book because of their political affiliation and yet none of the enlightened diasporans has drafted a Parliamentary motion calling upon the Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe defence forces and his Commanders to be held to account for the excess in a single case where they are known to have exceeded their mandate – and there are many such cases to the knowledge of diasporans.
Clearly these are not brains lost by the country but useful workers that must only be considered when the time is ripe after the real brainiacs in the country have opened up employment generating projects on which they can be usefully employed.
By persistently reacting to initiatives when they appear to have passed them Zimbabwe Diasporans have proven to be a lost cause that will not benefit the country in the turnaround strategizing but could be useful as managers of ideas innovated elsewhere.
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