EcoCash Should Help Us To Monitor & Control It’s Platform

RBZ Governor, Dr John Mangudya has urged EcoCash to help the central bank to monitor and control it’s platform. Dr Mangudya’s comments are on the heels of a controversial ban which EcoCash is already challenging in the High Court.

First off Dr Mandudya started by acknowledging that EcoCash’s platform is not inherently bad but rather it’s being abused by unscrupulous agents. As reported by the Herald, the Governor said:

We are seriously seized with the EcoCash matter to see what the best way forward is. But of course, it’s not about the platform; it is about the people who are abusing the platform.

I agree with the Governor here because when I look at it from one angle, EcoCash is not the problem but it’s agents are. The agents are just abusing the EcoCash platform that was born with good intentions.

However, when I look at it from another angle, EcoCash hasn’t done enough to curb the erratic behaviour of it’s agents which is why RBZ issued the ban in the hope that EcoCash quickly find solutions. I’ve always argued that EcoCash could have done much more to curb the behaviour of unscrupulous agents than just warning them or taking away their agent lines (sim cards).

And then the Governor went on to say:

Econet should help us monitor and control the conduct of this segment of the financial services market because for Econet, this is their road (platform) and some roads need humps, others have traffic lights while others have detours; Econet must help us because this is their road.
Econet must play a part, given that for instance, if you exceed the regulated speed on a highway, you risk being slapped with fines for flouting road rules and regulations; these are issues of governance and Econet needs to help foster discipline on their platform among its agents
What has happened (suspending cash-in and cash-out) should be a wakeup call for everyone; we need a united front from everyone to deal with the problem. We must say let’s cease fire, stop fighting or blaming each other, but let’s re-establish the rules of engagement