Gideon Gono steps down. Really?

September 15, 2008 by Born Free ·
Filed under: Business, Politics

http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/news/gono-steps-down/

By Gerald Harper

Reserve governor Gideon Gono will step down on Thursday this week two months before his second term at the helm of the Central bank expires,sources revealed to Metro.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti who is highly tipped to take over as Minister of Finance in the new all inclusive government early this year blamed Gono for Zimbabwe’s economic woes.

“Gono is the number one enemy of this country, not inflation,” Biti, MDC-Harare East said. “He has been stoking the fires of inflation through quasi-fiscal activities.

Banker and MDC senior official Elton Mangoma who could be appointed Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion is a vocal critic of the central bank chief and called Gono’s recent monetary policy statement,
inconsequential “tinkering” with the symptoms of the problem.

Sources speculated that Gono will likely be replaced by deputy governor, Edward Mashiringwani as acting governor until a suitable replacement is found.

Mashiringwani who last year made headlines by invading a farm owned by Louis Fick a white farmer, contradicting calls by Gono to stop farm invasions blamed for destroying the agricultural sector will not take over as governor
as it is envisaged that the new governor will have to be apolitical and a professional.

Already Western governments and donors have indicated that the removal of Gono,will be “one of the key indices” that they will use to judge whether the newly constituted government is genuinely reformed and a fit recipient
for aid.

Since taking over as governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in 2003, Gono has implemented a host of highly-criticized policies. The main criticism comes from the apparent failure of his policies to reverse the economic
decline of Zimbabwe. Since he became governor, there have been a number of problems:

cash shortages
fuel and food scarcity, shortages in agriculture
Operation Murambatsvina, which some say was funded by the RBZ
Banker and businessmen have been arrested by the police and army under Gono’s orders
Some Zimbabweans have become fugitives or have languished in prison, notably Mutumwa Mawere, James Makamba, Philip Chiyangwa and David Batau
The highest inflation in the world and unemployment and the collapse of the health, education and agriculture sectors.
A number of banks have been raided and their operating licences cancelled
Bankrolling Mugabe ’s highly discredited one candidate Run-off election.