Biti’s commitment questionable

By Susan Chipanga (25/11/09)

“As you know, I did not want to be part of this government. But, after the MDC National Council resolved that we should go in, I had no option. I only took this job because Mr Tsvangirai asked me to”. This is a quote from our Finance Minister, Honorable Tendai Biti who in a week or two will have the whole country’s glued to their television and radio for the 2010 budget presentation in parliament.

Though, many might argue that Biti has a knack for the limelight and could easily be a strong contender for the 2009 noisemaker award, that foregoing revelation underlines his commitment to his duties to the finance portfolio. His tumultuous tenure has been characterized by gaffes which speak volumes, a man who was dragged kicking and screaming to join the inclusive government. I was reminded of this when a week ago, Biti made baffling statements to the parliamentary debate on the central government amendment bill.

Biti was quoted saying “As long as it (the central bank) is in its current form, this will constrain the ability of this government to attract foreign direct investment and budgetary support”. He went further to say and I quote “As I speak to you, we have failed to attract a single cent for budget support. The first thing that they (donors) ask is, are you going to put money through the central bank and I have no answer to that”.

As I was reading this statement, I paused and asked myself if this man is suffering from selective amnesia as many Zimbabweans clearly remember the dust raised over the setting up of a Multi Donor Trust Fund. When Biti assumed his duties as Finance Minister we were told we were not going to get a single cent because the donors can not channel funds to government through the Reserve Bank because they have massive corruption and bad financial policies thus the Zimbabwean government did not have economic credibility. The only way out was setting up a Multi Donor Trust fund.

The role of the multi donor trust was to coordinate communication and other logistics between donors and the Zimbabwean government’s projects so that we get funds. It was reported that the money will be used for “budgetary support until the inclusive government has a track record”.

The MDC ministers argued that no one in the donor community will be interested if they were to hear that the department was under Zanu PF’s wing so it was only logical to give it to “the right hands” .Thus funds were going to be sent directly to Tendai Biti’s Ministry of Finance and will completely bypass the central bank.

Tendai Biti took charge of this project called multi-donor trust fund. The IMF agreed to set up the fund to be run by itself, the World Bank, the United Nations development program and the African development bank.

Biti was even quoted during an interview saying “ until such time we have restored trust and confidence the multi- donor trust fund will be the vehicle in respect of funding. Then you’ve those counties that have expressed eagerness, particularly the Nordic countries, to actually help us with a certain specific aspect of our budget and this is where the multi-donor trust will be important.”

Can please Biti explain what happened to this Trust Fund since we were guaranteed of funds if only we could bypass the central bank. The trust fund was set up as to MDC-T and Biti specifications and now can Biti please explain to the rest of the country what is going with the trust fund. The total blackout or silence on the trust fund then coupled by Biti’s recent statements is an insult to all Zimbabweans who suspected all along that the trust fund was a ruse to cover up for sinister motives.

The only time I heard about the trust find was in August 2009 when Biti told a parliamentary committee on budget, finance and investment promotion that government has so far raised US$ 300 million under the multi-donor trust fund that would be channeled towards the country’s humanitarian needs.

Unless, Biti comes up with a plausible reason about the status of the trust fund all Zimbabweans can not help but concur with an observation made by the Member of Parliament of Tsholotsho Professor Moyo when he said that the so called world bank multi –donor trust fund has been bankrolling huge salaries and programmes of MDC-T activists under the guise of supporting technical experts in Prime Minister Tsvangirai’ office.

Or Zimbabweans are left to conclude that the multi-donor trust was set up as a façade to discredit Gideon Gono whom according to the trust was going to be bypassed as a way to pressure Zanu PF to acquiesce to his ouster. This ploy backfired when the IMF released $510 million to the very man Biti and company had vilified that he shouldn’t be within a mile of any funds.

If Biti, is saying the donors are skeptical about giving us funds as he indicated to the parliamentary committee it is because of his own indiscretion as the finance minister because how can a serious and competent minister call the very government he is part of “poor little struggling failed state” with “a debt of over US$5billion largely caused by mismanagement, corruption and theft” on an international fora and expect prospective investors and donors to take you seriously. Many were dismayed when Biti in Turkey made that scandalous statement leaving other questioning his integrity as the man who was going to get us out of our economic doldrums.

Minister Biti’s competence and commitment as a finance minister was further exposed in his proposal for Zimbabwe to declare itself as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country ( HIPC). The HIPC initiative would have meant the country was going to plead for debt-forgiveness from the donor community by declaring itself to be a collapsed economy that is incapable of paying its debts whose arrears are now about US$3,1 B.

This was going to enable the US and British-led financial institutions like IMF to prescribe HIPC programmes designed to compromise the sovereignty of the country as it’s economic and political decisions including control of funding of key institutions such as the army were going to institutions which are being led our antagonizers .

Thus, true to his word that he was dragged kicking and screaming to the inclusive government, Biti has done nothing worth mentioning except to work on his petty and vindictive project of how fast to get Gono out office and gloat over his perceived powers. Biti who has occupied himself with crafting of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Bill which is meant to strip the institution’s governor of power, when told by his critics that he wanted to use the bill to turn himself into a powerful minister he responded by saying “some of the powers that l was given l actually didn’t want them but my colleagues in cabinet pushed for those powers”. Biti has to clarify to us who these colleagues were because Zanu PF were prepared to block the bill unless certain clauses which they felt were directed at individuals were amended.

Of all Biti’s shenanigans what a travesty then when Zimbabweans woke to the news in October that Zimbabwe Finance minister Tendai Biti had been given the Euromoney Emerging Markets’ 2009 award as the best Finance Minister in Africa in recognition of his role in stabilizing the country’s economy since assuming duty eight months ago. Biti and colleagues have been working for their own interests since joining the inclusive government and this award would have the likes of notable former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel who has noticeable achievements, laughing for the sham of the whole award, a reminder of US president Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Award with only a few months in office.

Though, we wait for the 2010 budget, we know nothing new is going to come out of it but will only remind us that Biti, is not the man for the job as has been proved in these past nine months.