By Derick Tsimba
Zimbabwe has a bright future owing to the path the country has started to undertake. United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols said this whilst speaking to Capitalk FM yesterday.
The country has been complimented for undertaking reforms in the Second Republic by the West, reforms which are going to transform the country for the betterment of its people’s wellbeing.
On Capitalk FM Brian Nichols openly stressed that the reforms Government had started to pursue were the right thing for the Zimbabwean people as this had gone a long way in easing the concerns of the international community. Nichols sentiments show that the West now believes Zimbabwe has taken a path that should lead it to a brighter future.
The Second Republic is serious in instituting reforms that complement its engagement and re-engagement policy. Recently, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) held its post election review conference to reflect the 2018 Harmonised elections ahead of the 2023 electoral cycle taking into account the recommendations made by electoral observers.
During the conference ZEC Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba mentioned that there was need to review the 2018 Harmonised elections to improve the conduct of future elections.
She noted that the main objective of the ZEC post election review conference exercise was to take stock of the processes and procedures employed during the last elections with a view of strengthening and improving the conduct of future elections by taking on board positive views from all stakeholders in line with transparency, respect for rule of law and accountability for human rights.
At the ZEC conference the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) alluded to its establishment that it had been established to convince political parties to promote peaceful campaigns and that political party members should continue to promote peaceful dialogues.
The peace pledge signed by political parties promotes peaceful campaigns. Party members must conduct themselves peacefully and promote tolerance through a peaceful political dialogue. Diversity in politics still remains a reality which needs to be embraced by all political parties in respect of the NPRC.
As much as the country is making these reforms, countries which have placed us under sanctions should also review their illegal instrument. The U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe on Capitalk FM tries to imply that ZIDERA has no economic impact on Zimbabwe. He erroneously implied that the largest Zimbabwean businesses are not under targeted sanctions.
A recent case in point is an article in the The Herald of 11 April 2019, where The Standard Chartered Bank was fined US$18 million for violating the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions on Zimbabwe in a development that exposes Nichols misrepresentations.
The punishment by OFAC was over 1 795 transactions worth close to US$77 million that were done by Standard Chartered Bank New York and Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe, revealing the hard fact that U.S. sanctions are biting hard on Zimbabwe’s economy and that economic freedom for the country should come at a cost.
