The Huni echo

Sunday Mail Political Editor Munyaradzi Huni echoed Herald counterpart Caesar Zvayi Pic courtsey www.zimdaily.com



THE political howling from the Zanu PF propagandists would not be complete without the familiar voices of the Sunday Mail duo being added to the discordant sanctions mantra.

Munyaradzi Huni who shares the ignominy of State journalists on the EU travel restrictions with the distraught Zvayi because of their involvement in promoting hate speech had to chip in on the subject so close to his heart and personal circumstances.

Disguised under the header “The Politics of aid,” Huni went to town lecturing the MDC government on the pros and cons of reliance on donor funding. The coalition government is in Huni’s world an MDC interim government of beggars rather than a government in which his beloved Zanu PF is key component.
For Huni the trendy politics of the day is announcement of aid packages for Zimbabwe by the international donor community when it should really be the most loathed development in any sovereign state.

Unlike his counterpart at the Herald who would like us to believe that most aid currently sustaining the country is coming from Sadc, Huni acknowledges that aid is coming from the loathed Westerners by picking the example of the US$10 million donation by Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, Mr. Erik Solheim.

He however took issue with the Minister’s prescription of the United Nations, the World Bank and some unnamed non-governmental organisations as the fund managers.
“President Mugabe has on many occasions said the country welcomes aid that has no strings attached to it and so, from the surface, Norway seems to have played ball. But hold on! Don’t they say the devil is always in the detail? What exactly is the meaning of what Mr. Solheim said?”

Because the dear leader has said aid with strings attached is unwelcome any aid has strings attached and is thus bad for Zimbabwe, in Huni’s considered opinion.

That Mr. Solheim said the US$10 million is for the country’s health and education sectors was indicative of the strings attached to the aid package he announced.

Notwithstanding the desperate need for capital injection in the sectors singled out the donation must be objected to because it allowed the donor to make a political statement.

The choice of beneficiary Ministries that are under ministers from the MDC appears to be at the centre of Huni’s concerns.

“The talk is that aid, such as the one coming from Norway, is meant to spruce up the image of the MDC in preparation for a post-inclusive Government election. This decision was taken after the MDC-T managed to negotiate for the majority of social services ministries in Government,” lamented Huni.

But on closer analysis it is not exactly the issue. Rather it is the fact that Zanu PF lost Social services ministries to the MDC which are now proving to be more popular with the electorate as they are making a difference in the lives of the hitherto oppressed general public.

“Why is Norway choosing the distributors of the funds on behalf of the Government? Yes, this is Norwegian money, but what will stop Norway from pushing the regime change agenda via these chosen channels? While the UN and the WB may be used as cover-ups, the real deal is with the NGOs.”

Therein lies the fears driving Huni. By funding ministries held by Ministers from the MDC the donors are seen as pursuing not a social improvement agenda but rather a political agenda that favours the MDC.

Huni would derive pleasure if the donation was made to the government without specifications of its intended use or if the specification was to equip the security ministries headed by Ministers from Zanu PF for use in purchasing of repression ammunition to be used against civilians.

How that would improve the welfare of the ordinary Zimbabwean remains a mystery only Huni and Zanu Pf can explain.

Huni still yearns for the good old days when the ‘war cabinet’ and the so called ‘development cabinet’ which destroyed all developed infrastructure used to plunder and pillage the economy for his and Zanu PF’s benefit without anyone questioning the impunity.

We are now being told that donations are debts and debts are political problems rather than financial problems.

This is rather weird because debts are by their nature financial transactions which fall in the economic rather than political science sphere. Bad politicking forces governments to incur bad debts to finance unproductive political agendas and when that happens it does not mean debts have suddenly transformed into political science.

The fact that creditors and debtors can use financial transactions to achieve a political objective is neither here nor there as any organised activity requires participants to make choices about how they want the project funded and in the absence of own financial resources borrowing becomes the finance option of first choice but if grants and donations can be secured surely they would be the cheaper and more sensible option to fall back on.

No wonder why the RBZ stole from depositor funds to finance Zanu PF political initiatives. It was this kind of extraterrestrial economic advice from Zanu PF morons that the bank relied on to justify theft.

“What is Norway’s motive in providing the US$10 million aid package? What is the motive of all the European countries that suddenly want to play the "good Samaritan" by providing salaries for civil servants?”Huni asks.

But Norway did not volunteer the aid but rather the Zimbabwe Junta government fronted by non other than current coalition government President Mugabe sent an international SOS after the country was plagued with a Cholera pandemic the government was ill prepared to contain.

So much about baseless accusations against the west for suddenly realising that there is a word called generosity.

The averment to studies showing there is no collaration between aid and national growth and stability is most unfortunate coming from a Zimbabwean in a position supposed to be occupied by the enlightened who can advise others on economic matters.

Does Huni expect us to believe that Zimbabwe as a pariah state between 2000 and 2008 performed better economically than it did as a member of the commonwealth and qualifying member of the global fund?

All statistical data at hand points to the contrary and thus disproves the under researched topic and conclusions reached by Dr Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian economist Huni relies on who appears to be of questionable qualifications.

If 37 of the 47 least developed countries globally are the highest beneficiaries of aid that does not mean their poverty is ascribed to their reliance on aid but rather their failure to apply received aid to productive enterprise due to corruption.

Of all the "begging experts" in the inclusive Government none come bigger than President Mugabe whose regime has left the country saddled with a US$10 billion foreign debt and US$ 59 billion domestic debt.

“No one doubts the intelligence of some ministers in the inclusive Government, but if they remain stuck in yesteryear promises that aid will flow ad infinitum into Government coffers, and then all the brains will be put to waste,” pontificated Mr Huni.

Huni can do the country a lot of favour by staying as far away from acting as the government’s economic adviser because he simply does not have the basic know how in that area.

Zanu PF listened to his advice and borrowed billions through printing worthless Zim dollars now we are paying through reliance on donor funding and global borrowing to bridge the economic ravine created by successive Zanu PF regimes since 1980.