In a Twitter post seen by NewsReportzim.com Dr Walter Mzembi said the Governors of RBZ are appointed out of Political interest which loses Zimbabweans to have confidence in the decisions they make. Read the extract below
Ordinarily people don’t bother themselves about who is their Reserve Bank Governor and what Monetary Policy is ? Do a quick survey in any country on both and you will pick “indifference” as the common answer. As long as things are working for them.
It is only when there is a change of currency which hardly happens in normal countries that people’s interest of who the Governor is becomes of interest. The appointment of Governors generally passes unnoticed. Its apolitical , meritorious & technocratic .
A Reserve Bank Governor as in our case becomes of political interest when there has been repeated failure of the same appointments manifest in useless or worthless currency, rampant inflation, price instability , exchange rate volatility and high unemployment. It becomes even more political when the Governor enters the quasi fiscal space and becomes a political operator.
Reserve Bank Governors in the mould of the first two after Independence, Kombo Moyana and Tsumba were not public figures per se , they were known to their professional circles , Banking Industry and Government whom they advised , Senior Government people not everyone. The public knew there was someone inside that building they could trust and barely knew him physically except through his signature on the paper currency. Economies were so stable men trousers were designed with a front pouch or purse for coins and ladies could fit a whole monthly domestic savings inside their br@s (bhodhi). Hardly
accessible in that most private region!
I raise this because the delivery of Monetary Policy this time marked a return to the tradition of Banker of last resort speaking to Bankers first, after an engagement with Government whose body language also seemed to express surprise that we had so little gold in our reserves. Gold and cash reserves are tools of modern soft power and import cover of a country .A country’s sovereignity and vulnerability to threats is also determined by it’s monetary and fiscal soundness. I hope we all agree on this and begin to put shoulder to wheel and reset our country back on the path to inclusive growth & progress. This starts with sound politics , with this people couldn’t care less who a Governor of the Reserve Bank is , as long as they are part of the Renaissance!
Newsreportzim.com
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