Gono Attacks The MDC, Says He Won't Go

Gideon Gono was de facto Prime Minister under the previous government, with enough power to get Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa fired. Now he is defying the new dispensation with the full backing of Mugabe and ZANU PF. But going public with his criticism of Tsvangirai and Biti, he draws a line in the sand. This fight is only just starting

Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 October 2009

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono says while ZANU PF was "building" the economy, the MDC was "destroying" it.

Speaking to Godfrey Marawanyika of AFP yesterday, Gono also rejected calls for his resignation or sacking, saying, "I am definite that the removal of sanctions was mentioned in the GPA and not me." In other words, he is now parroting the ZANU PF and Mugabe line that sanctions are the real outstanding issue in the GPA, since it is mentioned and that he is not an issue because he was never mentioned in the GPA.

He also labels the calls for his sacking and the arguments offered to support the call "immoral and irrational."

"No single individual can kill the economy of an country," he says.

It is direct hit at the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

Yet, directly challenged on his fight with Tendai Biti, Gono says, "It's healthy to have professional differences."

Which is not what he said last week, when he told the state media, "We appear to be imposing sanctions on ourselves." He was protesting the blocking of yet another disbursement of funds from Afreximbank by His Excellency, The President of The Republic of Zimbabwe, Tendai Biti.

He has written letters to the Principals in the Inclusive Government, in tears, begging them to talk to Tendai Biti for him.

This is healthy?

I think the case against him from the MDC is stronger than he makes it out to be, reducing it as he does to the fact that "Gono printed money and killed this economy."

But that is another story.

It is just astounding that Gono now feels so emboldened that he is now taking on Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC in interviews with syndicated news international news agencies.

What is it that he is now so cock-sure about? Could this be an indication that we are now going to see him given authority to act on the sweeping powers Mugabe gave him to counter Tendai Biti?

Quite apart from everything else, really, this attack on the Prime Minister and Tendai Biti shows that the relationship between the Finance Minister and The Governor is now considered irretrievably broken down.

There is no use for diplomatic press conferences such as saw in March this year, when the two men posed for the cameras patting each other on the back and declaring their deep-seated respect for each other.

Now we know Gono has been thrown out of the playground and is now throwing his toys out of his cot.

There was no need for the interview at all, because Gono says nothing about the monetary policy of this country or what thinking is guiding implementation of policy now. That is what we would like to hear from our Governor, not speeches in defence of his job.