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By Gideon Gono

Correspondent

The community of central bank governors in any country, Zimbabwe included, is a very small one and when one of them is taken, that departure leaves a yawning gap of unimaginable proportions.

The sudden departure of Zimbabwe’s illustrious central bank governor, the first black man to put his signature on our currency and stood guard over its value to his last day in office (1993) is a serious blow to our pool of indomitable expertise and experience.

Although each governor faces a different set of challenges during his/her tenure depending on the prevailing environment, Dr Moyana achieved several firsts in office and left a record of multiple achievements difficulty to emulate.

Let me focus on one aspect of his unparalleled achievements to illustrate my point in the very important area of resource mobilisation for the country.

First notable is the fact that out of the 7 IMF disbursements to Zimbabwe totalling US$522 million between 1980 to the last one received in 1999, four (57 percent) of those disbursements amounting to US$360 million (69 percent) occurred during his governorship.

Of the 16  tranches of disbursements Zimbabwe received from the World Bank between 1980 to the last one in 2001 amounting to US$1,3 billion, 11 (69 percent) of those disbursements amounting to US$890 million (66 percent) were negotiated and received under his trust.

Of the 13 times that the African Development Bank disbursed serious development funds to Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1998 amounting to US$600 million, 11 (85 percent) of the drawdowns amounting to US$590 million (98 percent) was negotiated by and disbursed into his stewardship.

Needless to state that Dr Moyana had led in all the negotiations of these multilateral facilities, the last ones this country ever received before sanctions were applied against Zimbabwe in 2001 following our land reform programme and  a protest against the country’s involvement in the DRC war (1998-2002).

Dr Moyana was an astute negotiator and a patriot who inspired a great deal of confidence in all those who interacted with him to this day.

It is a pity that the country could not fully harness his immense potential and reservoir of knowledge towards solving some of the economic challenges the country currently faces as I know and he told me that he stood ready to offer his expertise in a more visible  and practical way.

Now that we are without this enormously gifted son of Zimbabwe, many of us who were privileged to work and interact with him feel a great sense of loss.

May his departed great spirit Rest In Eternal Peace.

Go well Mukoma KJM!

Mnin’ina GG