In a statement issued to The Zimbabwe Times from the office of the DeputyÂ
Prime Minister Friday and described as "our response to Mugabe’s remarksÂ
covered on your website" Mutambara said he stood by every word that he hadÂ
uttered, resulting in the rebuke by Mugabe during a television interview toÂ
mark his birthday.
Mugabe turned 85 on Saturday. Mutambara who was sworn in as Deputy PrimeÂ
Minister two weeks ago turns 43 in May. Mugabe was 42 when Mutambara wasÂ
born in May 1966.
"The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Professor Arthur G.Â
O. Mutambara, does not regret any statements that he has made on the currentÂ
Monetary Policy and the National Budget," Mutambara said in the statementÂ
issued exclusively to The Zimbabwe Times.
In a televised interview broadcast on Zimbabwe television on ThursdayÂ
evening Mugabe made reference to the spat between the Deputy Prime MinisterÂ
and the governor of the Reserve Bank. The President made it patently clearÂ
he was on Gono’s side in this particular dispute. He also publicly respondedÂ
for the first time to calls by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) thatÂ
Gono should be replaced in the position of governor.
Mugabe said Gono was not leaving the central bank.
"Those were emotional utterances," Mugabe said referring to statements madeÂ
by the Deputy Prime Minister. "I am sure Mutambara regrets where he said theÂ
monetary policy must be nullified.
"How do you nullify a budget that has gone through Parliament? It’s the oneÂ
that (Finance Minister Tendai) Biti is using, including the monetary policy.Â
So you don’t nullify it."
Mugabe charitably suggested that Mutambara was still new and was thus stillÂ
prone to making mistakes.
"You must grant that we have new people and they would be making a fewÂ
mistakes," he said. "Well if mistakes are outrageous, naturally they putÂ
people off but we try to correct each other."
Referring to his own performance, Mugabe said he had refrained from makingÂ
any statements of late.
"I have not been making any statements myself," he said. "In fact, I haveÂ
avoided making statements."
The president then turned sarcastic.
"We should as much as possible keep quiet and talk to ourselves in theÂ
chambers that we have provided ourselves with and we have those chambers. IÂ
don’t see why but of course there is always the instinct of ‘let the peopleÂ
hear me and let my voice be heard’, but it may be a croaking voice, youÂ
know, not harmonious. It’s not everybody who can sing. Very few people haveÂ
nice voices, some will make you deaf."
But Mutambara, for whom Mugabe has openly displayed a predilection in theÂ
past, would not be intimidated.
"When President Robert Mugabe made reference to Professor Mutambara on ZTV,Â
with regards to the above issues," Mutambara said in his statement, "he wasÂ
expressing his own personal views as a citizen of Zimbabwe. The Deputy PrimeÂ
Minister would want to put it on record that he totally disagrees with theseÂ
personal views of Mugabe."
It was important, Mutambara pointed out, that Zimbabweans make a distinctionÂ
between Mugabe’s personal views and public policy.
Mutambara and Gono appear to share a common trait. While Gono fondly refersÂ
to himself as "Your Governor", in now appears Zimbabweans will have to getÂ
used to one of their two Deputy Prime Ministers always referring to himselfÂ
as the Deputy Prime Minister. The potential for Deputy Prime MinisterÂ
Thokozani Khupe being completely overshadowed in the circumstances is quiteÂ
strong.
What prompted the now raging squabble was a statement made by Deputy PrimeÂ
Minister Mutambara on Thursday, February 19. He told a high profile businessÂ
forum in Harare that Gono’s recent monetary measures would be reversed inÂ
due course.
Mutambara advised the business community to disregard the fiscal andÂ
monetary policies recently announced by Gono and then acting FinanceÂ
Minister, Patrick Chinamasa.
"Don’t base your planning on Chinamasa’s or Gono’s statements," MutambaraÂ
told a roundtable of chief executives held in Harare, "There will beÂ
fundamental reviews on these."
In the monetary policy statement, the central bank liberalized the country’sÂ
exchange rate regime, while officially allowing the free circulation ofÂ
multiple currencies in Zimbabwe.
Gono’s position as a powerful and very close ally of Mugabe, has failed toÂ
shield him from widespread accusations of presiding over runaway inflationÂ
and the total collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar. He and the President in turnÂ
both accuse western governments of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, which,Â
according to their own theory, have caused the country’s economic crisis.
Stung by Mutambara’s public rebuke Gono urged bankers and the businessÂ
community to abide by his statements and avoid what he said was unnecessaryÂ
panicking.
He was adamant that he had consulted widely before he came up with hisÂ
monetary policy statement. By law he was still in charge of the centralÂ
bank, he declared combatively.
"As we work to stabilize the national economy," Gono said, "We advise ourÂ
principals in the field of politics to carefully weigh their pronouncements,Â
particularly in technical areas such as banking and finance that riskÂ
destabilizing the economy.
"Engaging in needless brawls, either as a way of proving the mightier amongÂ
ourselves, or as a result of ill-advice from those around us should beÂ
avoided in the national interest."
Gono’s bristling pronouncements were also meant for the ear of the newÂ
Finance Minister, Tendai Biti.
Biti, a known critic of Gono and Zanu-PF’s economic policies, had also saidÂ
changes would be effected to Chinamasa’s budget. There has been a perceptionÂ
that an early strategy of Biti in his new portfolio is to remove Gono fromÂ
his entrenched position at the Reserve Bank.
The entry of Mugabe into the fray on the side of Gono this week must haveÂ
revealed to Biti that Gono could, in fact, be a fixed liability at theÂ
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
By Geoffrey Nyarota
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