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Tinashe Makichi
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa yesterday castigated Non-Governmental Organisation bosses for diverting development funds to personal use instead of channelling them through the state.

He was addressing the media after meeting the visiting Danish trade delegation led by the Trade and Development Corporation Minister Morgens Jensen.

Minister Chinamasa said development aid to Zimbabwe has not been channelled through the state, but rather diverted for personal use by different NGO bosses.

“Any development assistance channelled through NGOs is not transparent to the government of the day.

“It is for the benefit of the country that all developmental assistance should be channelled through the state and should also be transparent to us. I assured Minister Jensen that Government has the capacity to implement any development assistance that we receive in the most transparent manner,” said Minister Chinamasa.

The European Union through different aid programmes has disbursed over $2 billion in development finance co-operation to Zimbabwe since 2002 despite the restrictions

The aid was mainly coming from NGO’s and Minister Chinamasa said not all the funds ended up being used in a productive manner but rather ended up in individual pockets. EU will, from 2015, start a 234 million Euro ($300 million) five-year funding programme to support health, agriculture and governance initiatives.

Minister Chinamasa said Government is engaging other countries that have been channelling their development assistance through NGO’s.

“If there is any corruption that has been taking place, it has been in the ranks of NGO’s. If I take you to the leafy suburbs, of this town, the most luxurious houses belong to heads of NGOs,” he added.

“So it’s up to the Danish public, to see whether they want to channel their development assistance and have a portion of it going into pockets of individuals.”

However, Government is engaging Denmark to get necessary support in crafting mechanisms that can be used to address the principal debt crisis which has ballooned by nearly 40 percent from $6,1 billion last year to $9,9 billion.

Zimbabwe’s outstanding public and publicly guaranteed external debt, (including Reserve Bank’s external debt), stood at $6,964 billion, representing 54 percent of GDP in nominal terms. Of the total public and publicly-guaranteed external debt of $6,964 billion, $5,012 billion (72 percent) was public debt, while $1,356 billion (20 percent) was publicly-guaranteed debt and $ 596 million (eight percent) was RBZ debt.

Danish Trade and Development Corporation Minister Morgens Jensen Denmark is willing to engage Zimbabwe on crafting sustainable frameworks to address the debt overhang issue.

“Our visit in Zimbabwe is not about addressing issues of the past but to shape a way forward for the Zimbabwe economy to blossom again.

‘We want to support a number of developing countries in Africa and we do that because we believe in the quality of people and the investment potential in those countries,” said Minister Jensen.

He said Zimbabwe is facing a challenging economic situation and the growth is dwindling while the same calls for development of revenue base.

Minister Jensen said there is need for progress in the policy reform process for economic development of Zimbabwe to unfold.

“The implementation of the constitution is important and I told minister Chinamasa that we are ready to support this clarification process and also the debt situation is a major obstacle and Denmark is prepared to work with the Government of Zimbabwe and the multilateral financial institutions in order to find a solution on that debt relief,” said Minister Jensen.

The Royal Danish Embassy recently pledged its commitment to make available an additional contribution of $20mln towards the Zimbabwe Multi Donor Trust Fund earmarked for water sanitation and power projects.