The partial immunity from prosecution granted to the Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono through amendments to the Reserve Bank Reform Bill “is a safe exit strategy” for a man under immense pressure to throw in the towel, political analysts said last week.

Parliament passed the Bill after it was amended to include a clause that gives partial immunity to Gono or any employee of the bank “for anything done in good faith and without negligence under the powers conferred by this Act”.

Earlier in the week, ZANU PF MPs had threatened to block the Bill because they felt it was “targeted at an individual rather than an office”.

But the analysts said by agreeing to a clause that gives immunity to Gono, ZANU PF had, in a way, endorsed calls for the central bank chief to make way for fresh ideas.

They said ZANU PF can no longer bear with the pressure from both MDC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on the resolution of the outstanding issues to the power-sharing agreement with the MDC factions.

The MDC-T has been pushing for the removal of Gono from the RBZ accusing him of destroying the economy through quasi-fiscal policies and recklessly funding ZANU PF programmes.

A SADC ministerial team that assessed the implementation of power-sharing agreement between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations recommended that Gono should be reassigned to save the shaky coalition from collapse.

University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masunungure said the immunity granted to Gono was to pave way for “a soft landing” for the troubled RBZ chief.

Masunungure said the fact that the immunity came through an amendment gives credence to speculation that Gono might soon be reassigned.

“This is meant to pave a way for soft landing and a trouble-free exit from the central bank,” Masunungure said.

“It’s a golden handshake for him and he will soon be reassigned to a politically invisible job where he will start a new life without being haunted by prospects of being prosecuted.”

Another UZ science lecturer, John Makumbe agreed but described the immunity as a “costly” golden handshake.

Makumbe blasted the MDC formations for making such a “concession” saying it was an insult to Zimbabweans who suffered at the hands of Gono’s poor quasi-fiscal policies.

“It’s dangerous to give immunity to a person who destroyed our economy propping up ZANU PF,” Makumbe said.

“I am furious about it. The MDC has no authority to grant anyone immunity.”

After granting immunity to Gono, said Makumbe, it will be a contradiction to prosecute all those fingered in a recent audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General Mildred Chiri.

In her report for the first quarter of 2009 financial year tabled in Parliament recently, she said members of President Robert Mugabe’s previous administration took advantage of a vacuum in government to loot state property.

The report revealed that state assets such as cars, laptops, computers, fax machines, cell phones and spares for vehicles were stolen by ministers, deputies and other senior government officials.

“Chiri has done a brilliant audit. What is Biti going to do to the ministers who looted vehicles and laptops when he is giving the chief culprit immunity?” Makumbe asked.

But Finance Minister Tendai Biti who at one time called Gono “the country’s number one enemy said the Bill did not provide immunity for cases of theft, fraud or a breach of the law.

“The new provision in the Bill simply says those officials who acted in good faith and without negligence will not be liable to prosecution.

“It does not say anywhere that where there has been theft, fraud or where there has been a breach of the law, the people should not be prosecuted,” Biti said.

The Bill, which faces further scrutiny in the ZANU PF-dominated Senate, will reduce the powers of the governor and restrict the bank to core business of dealing with interest rates, currency management and regulating banks.

The governor’s core function would be to chair a planned monetary policy committee.

However, the central bank governor would continue to chair the RBZ board.

Biti proposed cutting to two deputy governors from the four catered for under the current law.

Critics blame Gono for policies that crippled the economy, stoking inflation by printing money and taking over functions of the national treasury, including buying farming inputs and extending financial support to government departments.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe are locked in a dispute on how to share power, with the MDC-T leader accusing the veteran ruler of refusing to appoint a new central bank governor and attorney general as part of their political pact signed last year.

Mugabe has vowed that Gono will not be sacked.

(Source)