By Trevor Makonyonga
Former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Gideon Gono has come out guns blazing after revelations made in Alex Magaisa’s Big Saturday Read (BSR) about the farm mechanisation programme.
The latest BSR carried names of individuals who were awarded loans under RBZ’s farm mechanisation programme and never paid back until the debt was later acquired by the state.
In an interview with state controlled publication, Sunday Mail Gono slammed Magaisa’s allegations which he said are “unfounded” and carry “unfair conclusions”.
“My statement comes in the wake of Dr Magaisa’s allegations, which makes a lot of unfounded allegations and inaccurate, and unfair conclusions that border on defamation. I come as the man who was in charge of the RBZ during the most trying period in our history and as a man who was at the centre of trying to keep the economy going.”
In his statement Gono indicated that Magaisa was offside.
He however did not clarify on the nature of the said ‘loans’ exposing great incompetences in government offices as the beneficiaries were not asked to pay back.
“I can state categorically that Dr Magaisa is offside and that no beneficiary of the farm mechanisation programme ever refused to pay for the equipment that they got and neither were they asked to pay. Today, under a legitimate Government Mechanisation Programme that covered both A1 and A2 farmers during a very difficult period in the history of our nation becomes a scandal?”
Gono justified the programme and downplayed corruption by claiming that rural and non rural farmers benefited from the programme.
The list circulating on social media although incomplete is filled with politicians and those in positions of influence in different sectors.
“Both rural and non-rural farmers benefited from the takeover of the loans by the State but I shall elaborate. There was no scandal here, no corruption and no beneficiary refused to pay. The State did not demand payment and that was above board.”
The former governor further said that the decision to have the equipment given to farmers for free was arrived at after consultations by the government. The beneficiaries were thereby exempted from paying the loans meaning that treasury had to foot the bill.
“The RBZ undertook this quasi-fiscal activity at the behest of Government and in the national interest. This was done in accordance with the then Section 8 of the RBZ Act Chapter (22:15) which authorised State to direct the Central Bank to carry out transactions in such a manner as the State may require and if so requested by the State, the Bank was to make the necessary arrangements to this end. At independence, the RBZ and government, in general, assumed loans and obligations that had been incurred by the previous regime, some of which had been used to acquire military equipment that maimed and killed our people as well as agricultural loans that had been taken with State guarantees from banks during those difficult years.”
