Dr Gideon Gono
Right: Hon Tendai Biti
After receiving several official and unofficial complaints about your conduct as Governor of the Reserve Bank of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I have personally taken it upon myself to investigate the veracity of the allegations levelled against you and come to the conclusion that it is in the National interest that you respond in detail to the following allegations;
Behaviour inconsistent with the specific and implied terms of your conditions of employment
Over the period December 2003 to date you and the entire staff under your charge have:
1. Engaged in buying and selling foreign currency on the parallel market using printed notes without embedded assert value and in so doing undermined the real value of the national currency to a point where it has been rendered valueless in contravention of section 6 (1)(b) as read with section 6(1)(a) of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act Chapter 22.15.
2. Over the same period you and the staff under your supervision have collected undisclosed sums of foreign currency from foreign donors, exporters and local foreign denominated accounts which you have used to buy unspecified quantities of motor vehicles, scotch carts, ploughs, harrows, hoes, electricity generators, combine harvesters, fuel, fertiliser, maize meal, wheelbarrows, chains, planters, water pumps, irrigation pipes and other agricultural inputs not reflecting on the bank’s balance sheet.
While section 6(2) of the Reserve bank Act confers you exclusive discretion to exercise the banks functions without being subjected to the direction or control of any other person or authority other than as is provided in the Act or any other enactment of the Government of Zimbabwe such discretion did not extent to you powers to buy assets beyond those stipulated in section 7(e) of the Act namely to “buy, take in exchange, hire or otherwise acquire movable and immovable property necessary or convenient for the exercise of the Reserve bank’s functions, and dispose of or deal in such property whenever necessary.”
3. Your employment as Reserve Bank Governor was made in terms of section (2) of the Act after due consideration had been taken of your competence and experience in matters relating to banking, finance and economics.
By your own admission to parliament on 2 April 2009, and I quote, “8. As I will show in some detail, as the head of a strategic Point Institution, I took my instructions from my principals and those instructions were made and implemented in terms of the relevant laws and Constitution of Zimbabwe,” you abandoned all professionalism that qualified you for appointment and allowed your principals to once reminding them of the requirement for them to adhere by the constructs of section 6(2) of the Act prohibiting interference into your work through direction or control by anyone or any authority other than as is provided in the Act and other relevant enactments.
As a consequence of that failure on your part to exercise professional independence and competence as expected of you in terms of section 6(1)(g)to act as banker and financial adviser to, and fiscal agent of, the State; you ill advised the State into the belief that its fiduciary position was and would meet with requirements of section 6(1)(c)to foster the liquidity, solvency, stability and proper functioning of Zimbabwe’s financial system; and 6(1)(d)to advance the general economic policies of the Government. The gravity of your dereliction of responsibility is further compounded by your recent offer to lend unspecified numbers of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe vehicles for the unrestricted usage of Parliamentarians and the Office of the Prime Minister without consulting me and getting my prior consent for you to do so.
Indulgence in such quasi-fiscal activities in the past have negatively fed into the hyperinflationary environment we are grappling to term and subvert the very essence of sound economic and monetary policies I am sure you will concede to that.
Having pondered on these allegations and satisfied myself that there could be merit in some of the allegations and by the authority vested in me as custodian of the Exchequer of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I hereby call upon you to submit detailed and comprehensive explanations exonerating you from any alleged dereliction of duty on your part and that of the entire Bank as its Principal officer within 14 working days of your receipt of these charges.
In your response I would be most grateful if you could make full disclosure of the sources of the funds you applied to the purchase of Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility, Basic Commodities Supply Side Intervention (Bacossi) and Farm Mechanisation Programme as well as the People’s shops hampers that were distributed nationally.
Details of suppliers, cost, beneficiaries, terms of lending and recovery procedures as well as amounts recovered and those still outstanding would be most appreciated.
In the event that I do not receive your detailed response I shall be left with no option but to convene a parliamentary enquiry into these activities and request such an enquiry to recommend appropriate action to be instituted where it is established that you and the Reserve bank may have acted outside the specific and or implied mandates of the Bank.
You may wish to familiarise with the Audit and Exchequer Act Provisions as read with section 19 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act to satisfy yourself about the legitimacy of this charge and possible consequences of non compliancy with it.
It is trite that I remind you of your rights to seek legal advice and representation of your choice in these matters.
Hon Tendai Biti MP
Minister of Finance
Government of Zimbabwe
And here is the rest of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment