Treasury blocks exit packages

TREASURY has come to the rescue of Zimbabwe’s embattled taxpayer by blocking exit packages that were surreptitiously suggested by ministers in the bloated coalition government, as the tumultuous life of the inclusive government nears its end, The Financial Gazette can report.
With the unity government between ZANU-PF and two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) coming to an end later this year, Treasury was being prodded to provide golden parachutes to Cabinet Ministers.What seemed to have informed the idea that apparently had received tacit support from both sides of the political divide was that no-one in the triumvirate is absolutely sure which way the forthcoming elections would go.
To secure a soft landing in the event that they are thrown out of power, government bureaucrats were now trying to make hay while the sun still shines by planning for life outside government.
The exit packages were to be in the form of residential stands, motor vehicles and other featherbeddings.
But The Financial Gazette can now reveal that the demands by the ministers, which could have worsened government’s precarious financial position, have hit a brick wall.
In an interview on Tuesday, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Treasury had not and will not consider offering the ministers exit packages.
“There was never such a thing,” Biti said. “It’s all rubbish, a lie,” he told The Financial Gazette.
The ministers’ campaign to have golden handshakes was also motivated by the fact that government had acquired properties for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and Vice President Joice Mujuru.
Government splashed millions of dollars for the acquisitions, with the Prime Minister’s upmarket Highlands mansion gobbling nearly US$3 million in public funds, even though the premier has put the figure at less than US$1 million.
Public Works Minister Joel Gabbuza confirmed to The Financial Gazette recently that properties had indeed been bought for the three officials.
While President Robert Mugabe has described the unity government as “dysfunctional,” that has not discouraged members of  the coalition from demanding all the good things in life.
For instance Cabinet ministers, save for Education, Sports and Culture Minister David Coltart, have all received brand new vehicles.
This is despite the fact that government has been operating on a shoestring budget, with important social projects, such as dam construction and medicine provision for public hospitals, failing to get enough funding.
Many view the high spending habits, particularly by the premier, as proof that even the MDC officials have joined the gravy train after tasting power.
The luxurious lifestyles are cited as among the reasons why the MDC-T has not been faring well in opinion polls that have shown it as trailing ZANU-PF.
On Tuesday, Biti presented a gloomy outlook when he told reporters in Harare that the economy contracted by about three percent in the first four months of the year.
During the first four months of the year, Treasury collected US$263 million in revenue.
Out of this amount, US$199 million, or about 70 percent of the revenue, was channelled into public service salaries alone.
“The significant and disturbing position that is coming out from our analysis of the economy in the first four months of the year is that there is obvious evidence of shrinkage in the economy,” said Biti.
“There is clear evidence of economic decline and the elephant in the living room self-evidently remains the issue of elections. I think the sooner there is clarity of the dates, clarity on the processes, clarity on the funding, we should see the return of better business confidence,” he added.
The country is currently battling to raise more than US$100 million to fund the forthcoming harmonised polls.
Political analysts said the MDC-T, in particular, has squandered the people’s goodwill due to the trappings of power.
ZANU-PF chief whip, Joram Gumbo, said MPs were not demanding exit packages, save for allowances that may be outstanding when Parliament is dissolved on June 29.
“MPs are not demanding anything. Parliament would dissolve on June 29 automatically and the only thing that may be outstanding are travel and subsistence allowances. Because government does not have money, MPs are given those allowances in the form of fuel coupons,” said Gumbo.