Donors sidestep the old guard to fund Zimbabwe
HARARE, 19 June 2009 (IRIN): A strategy is being devised to allow donors of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to sidestep Zimbabwes central bank and channel funds directly to a ministry controlled by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirais Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party (Tsvangirai har netop besøgt Danmark, red.).
A tussle over the “unilateral” appointment of Gideon Gono as governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, by President Robert Mugabe, leader of the ZANU-PF party, as well as the selection of ZANU-PF loyalist Johannes Tomana to the position of attorney general, has become one of the most divisive issues since the formation of the government of national unity on 11 February.
Gono, whose tenure at the central bank coincided with hyperinflation and extinction of the Zimbabwe dollar, has also admitted to raiding the bank accounts of private individuals and NGOs for foreign currency.
The MDC argues that the Gono and Tomana appointments were in contravention of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which set up the unity government, as both positions required selection by consensus, which did not occur.
Mugabe has stood firm, and recently enlisted the support of the armed forces, who declared earlier this month that Gonos position as central bank governor was “non-negotiable”.
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