Zim plot US mission

MOSES MATENGA

 

The Parliament of Zimbabwe is pushing for a high-powered delegation to be dispatched to Washington and engage the United States President Joe Biden and the country’s Congress to reverse sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe during the George W Bush era of “irrational” decisions.

Zimbabwe claims to have lost over US$42bn due to the effects of sanctions imposed by the US since the turn of the millennium adding the restrictive measures have been disastrous to ordinary Zimbabweans.

The sanctions have been consistently renewed since 2002 with the latest being last week where the US seeks to punish those the country feels were responsible for “choking democracy” in the country following the August 23 elections.

The US imposed sanctions by enactment of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) by the George Bush Administration.

Bikita South Member of Parliament Energy Mutodi moved the motion in Parliament to have the sanctions removed and described them as disastrous and evil while blaming the restrictive measures on Bush’s irrational decisions that have collapsed the Zimbabwean economy.

Mutodi said the country has lost over US$42bn in revenue over the past 19 years because of the sanctions.

“This includes lost bilateral donor support estimated at US$4.5 billion annually since 2001, US$12 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and the African Development Bank, commercial loans of up to US$18 billion and a GDP reduction of at least US$21 billion,” Mutodi said.

“As a consequence, the significant progress that Zimbabwe had made in the development of its infrastructure as well as health education and other social service delivery systems has been severely reversed.  This has resulted in the most vulnerable sections of the population sinking in deeper poverty.  For instance, the proportion of the population in extreme poverty rose in the aftermath of sanctions.”

He blasted Bush for making irrational decisions during his tenure that included the “needless” war on Iraq that led to the killing of Saddam Hussein.

“I was indicating that during the presidency of President George Bush, we witnessed so many irrational decisions by the U. S. Government such as the invasion of Iraq where President Saddam Hussein was eventually assassinated under the claim of holding to weapons of mass destruction which later proved to be false,” the former Information Deputy Minister said.

“It is also under the same period that Zimbabwe was imposed or slapped with the illegal sanctions just because there was overwhelming support for the U. S. President in his foreign policy. It is clear that the foreign policy was baseless and based on unfounded facts which need to be fought by this Parliament.”

“Having unpacked the irrationality of the U.S. foreign policy and having suggested that the ZIDERA was passed during a period of overwhelming presidential concurrence during President W. Bush’s administration, I am proposing that this House send a delegation to the United States of American to present a briefing paper to His Excellency the President of the United States of America and to Congress on the need for the U. S. Government to consider the repeal of ZIDERA and start a process of engagement and political and economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of both countries.”

Mutodi accused the US of failing to forgive Zimbabwe for rightfully possessing the land that people won “after a hard fought and protracted war” and expressed dismay that the “evil sanctions have caused gross human suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans.”

“A delegation from Zimbabwe Parliament be sent to the United States of America to present a briefing paper to the President (Joe Biden) and Congress requesting their administration to expeditiously and unconditionally repeal ZIDERA which has caused so much suffering to ordinary citizens of our country.”

“…the delegation engages the United States of America Congress to lift the unwarranted and illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe (and) Zimbabwe presents its case to the United Nations by the end of December, 2023 so that these illegal sanctions imposed on our country are unconditionally lifted once and for all.”

Chegutu MP Webster Shamu seconded the motion.

 

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