So the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria did an audit on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and discovered that £4.5 million of the £65 million grant money allocated to Zimbabwe was no where to be found. They are demanding the money back, and rightly so.

Mr Gono is understood to have said the money was diverted “for other national priorities”. Just when you thought the regime had their fill of looting, they sink even lower.

But it is no secret where the money was diverted to. The Mugabe government has spent a fortune importing tractors, combine harvesters, limousines, plasma televisions and a range of other expensive items. These were handed out to Mr Mugabe’s cronies, magistrates and others, while cash was used to bribe voters.

If ever the ICC needed an excuse to haul somebody before its grand courts, now is the time. I think the greatest crime against humanity is deliberately denying individuals, and a whole nation in our case – the opportunity for better health care and leaving them to die from preventable diseases.

How does the man called Gono sleep at night?

That Gono has so far returned  $7.3 million of the money is also of no consequence. This is a complete outrage and we as the beneficiaries of that fund and the rest of the global community must ensure that this does not happen again. This regime has been allowed to trample us underfoot for too long. We demand proper accountability for that money, not the shallow diversion Gono gave yesterday when he said:  “Only cheap minds would go as far as to suggest that the money was used to buy tractors and TV sets.”

Oh Really?

This entry was posted on November 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am by Natasha Msonza and is filed under Activism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.