Slash Bob’s budget for Kuwait crisis, MDC

Has been in the hotel for over a year … VP Phelekezela Mphoko

Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs, which is being led by the speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, is currently in Kuwait where it has identified 32 Zimbabwean maids who are victims of human trafficking.

The fate of these women first came out two months ago leading to the arrest of the alleged chief culprit, Brenda May, a Kuwait official, and several other suspected perpetrators.

The trafficked women are said to be exposed to slavery, sexual abuse and forced labour.

MDC spokesman, Kurauone Chihwayi, said it was “shameful” that government was failing to full finance the repatriation of the 32 women stranded in Kuwait, when President Mugabe and his retinue were routinely blowing millions in foreign trips.

“Surely if government can afford to blow $20 million in less than 6 months on President Mugabe’s wasteful and useless trips abroad, it can afford to set aside $12 000 for a worthwhile cause to bring back the women stranded in Kuwait,” he said.

Early this week, President Mugabe returned from New York where he was attending a Meeting on Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).

He was accompanied by an entourage of more than 20 people.

The veteran leader hardly spends two weeks in the country before leaving for either his medical “check -ups” in Asia or to attend some international event. In every trip, he takes along groups of aides including doctors, CIO officers, foreign office folks and body guards all of who are paid thousands in allowances.

Chihwayi said failure by the government to urgently attend to the stranded women showed that the state does not value its citizens’ life.

“A government that fails to assist its citizens and ensure their safety when they are facing such grave danger is a useless one,” Chihwai said.

The Ncube led party said if government was broke it was supposed to evict Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko who has been leaving at a five star hotel in Harare since December 2014.

“Mugabe and his Zanu PF bigwigs are living lavishly while the majority wallow in poverty. Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko is still living it up in a luxury hotel more than one year since his appointment, gobbling up thousands of dollars a month.”