HARARE – Confusion and mystery reigned at Parliament on Monday when beleaguered Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono failed to turn up.
Gono had threatened to attend the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development, where he would name senior government officials he claimed had been hoarding and dealing in cash on the parallel market.
Parliament Clerk Austin Zvoma was said to be away, but a junior official, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “Gono himself called the clerk to inform him to cancel the meeting and others say he got an order to do that from senior government officials who asked him what he was trying to do.”
Several calls to Gono’s office failed to produce any official comment, and an official in the bank’s PR department, who declined to provide his name said: “The Governor is busy with other things”.
Chairman of the Portfolio Committee Daniel Mackenzie Ncube, a Zanu (PF) MP for Zhombe, was not available at Parliament and his mobile phone was not reachable. Â
A Government minister, speaking anonymously, claimed that “Gono was ordered to stay away from that meeting by his superiors and bosses”. Â
It is further reported that senior government officials had got wind that Gono intended to name top officials, including one of the vice presidents, in the cash scandals.
“Mugabe himself couldn’t stand it because one of his top campaign chiefs was going to be mentioned and that would mean action also taken against him which would affect his campaign strategy,” a source said. – Itai Dzamara
Post published in: News