Tuesday, February 4, 2014

MULTI Multi-currency saga

Wonders never cease to amaze, the uniqueness of my country's policies is by far a cause for concern. The whole world was laughing as the hyper inflation resulted in the literal slashing of zeros from the Zimbabwean dollar, or rather, the bearers check.
The Zimbabwean Dollar at the peak of inflation.

As ridiculous as it appeared, the coalition government managed to redeem Zimbabwe's reputation by adopting the Multi-currency system which included the US Dollar, ZAR Rand, Botwana's Pula , and the British Pound amongst others.

Indeed, we were all happy for a while as our calculators' zero keys finally had a break. But lo', the happiness has been short lived again by the addition of four more currencies to the multi-currency system. This totals the number of currencies used in my country to nine. What ridiculousness is this? I can already imagine going to the shops and seeing nine different prices on goods. How "convenient."

RBZ announced that the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, Indian rupee and Australian dollar will be accepted- SW Radio Africa
The four new currencies added, namely, the Chinese Yuan, the Japanese Yen, the Indian Rupee and the Australian Dollar have been said to improve "trade." I on the other hand see it as a desperate move by a currency-less nation. We all know that the US dollar is the dominant currency in trade, so why would we use currencies which we can't even pronounce when we already have the US dollar? Food for thought!

Personally I view the introduction of four new currencies to the already existing multi-currency regime as madness on its own. It is a true reflection of how the government has failed to maneuver the economics of money in Zimbabwe.

The state of carnage vandalism shown by the obscene salaries of the top brass CEO's is a true testimony that the sanctions mantra was just sloganeering and electioneering by Zanu-PF to gain ground. If there is anyone who can boast of putting Zimbabwe under sanctions is none other than the CEO's and the town clerks who earn frightening salaries yet the workers go for months without pay, what gross insanity! And I am yet to hear what Zanu-PF will use as their defense this time.

The economic fandango cannot be averted by Zanu-PF as they go on with their disastrous policy, the solution to the current economic woes is to simply change the foreign policy and re-engagement of this vandalised country by the looting committee to the international community.

On the other hand Africa is continuously displaying madness with its form of governance. Tin pot dictators and extremists still fill our streets unchecked yet kleptocracy is given a holy stamp, one will think African citizens owe this revolutionary party their existence.


Monday, January 20, 2014

Behind the Scenes

I'm sure most of you are wondering on the name of my title "Behind the scenes lies the truth." That is what i am going to explain in this first post. 

In my nation, Zimbabwe, nothing ever happens the way normal things happen and as a normal citizen who is as patriotic as the next I tend to wonder how things are run. Yes, I'm quite sure that  everyone actually wonders hows certain things happen and the answer to that is, everything happens behind the scenes. We are manipulated and made to see things in a way they do not appear.

Recently, there has been debate, or rather confusion on the health state of the president. a rumor somehow spread that he is not in good health. Social networks like Facebook have been buzzing with the likes of Baba Jukwa stating that the president is not well and the president's spokes person begging to differ. Media have failed to come up with recent pictures or videos to actually show that the president is well. the president himself has even failed to call a press statement to prove otherwise.
Mugabe's ailing health has seen him being the "commander in slip"- Nehanda Radio

With that being said, it can then be justified for a normal citizen like myself to think that the president is not in good health. My thoughts and suspicions however are not important. As a mere citizen, my thoughts are not that important but then the collective thoughts of normal Zimbabwean folk are the ones that matter. It is normal for the people to question when their leader is not feeling up to weather because it is "their" leader after all. Questions may rise within the people that how can a sick leader run a nation? This then makes it an important factor for the people to be constantly kept up to date about the state of their leader, especially in times like these when there are circulating rumors.

What you just read above is the opinion of a normal citizen who expect things to be simply run, or perhaps, done. But its sadly not the way things are run in my nation, and most nations in that case. As the saying goes: "strike whilst the iron is hot," the same goes with politics which is a dirty game and if it happens that your opponent/s find out that you are weak, that is when they will strike. The concept of behind the scenes then comes into picture.

Things are then done away from the eyes of the opposition and the people in some instances may be the opposition. Quite frankly, its not everyone in Zimbabwe who voted for Robert Mugabe. Precautions must be taken when attending to a delicate matter such as the president's health. However, the precautions that the ruling party appears to be taking are in my own opinion, silly and unplanned.

As Zimbabwean as I am, just like the next guy I would not be fooled by any of this. It is clear that something is definitely happening at the president's. How would you explain his sudden disappearance from the picture for such a long time, and to make matters worse his arrival from Singapore was never covered, no recent pictures where seen. The status-quo was and has been that when the president arrives from his holiday, he is covered by the media, pictures and videos are seen. What happened this time? and that's when my suspicions alongside with everyone else's were raised.

Things are happening behind closed doors, actions are taking place behind the scenes! My friends always advise me on avoiding such matters because I will end up "disappearing." disappearing to where I ask? As confusing and far fetched as it may sound, my answer is that you will disappear to a place behind the scenes where things are solved. Things that cannot be solved in front of the prying eyes of normal folk.