Ministers bleeding state coffers by flouting foreign travel restrictions

In a development that exposes the rampant abuse of control systems in the inclusive government and how the polarity in the coalition is being taken advantage of for selfish gain by high-ranking office bearers, several ministers have been accused of bleeding State coffers by flouting foreign travel restrictions.

Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, yesterday said he may be forced to expose the globetrotters before Cabinet after Treasury, which a fortnight ago, took the unprecedented step of freezing civil servants salaries due to a worsening liquidity crunch, failed to reign in the ministers with an insatiable appetite for foreign trips that are not benefiting the country in any way.

Biti said he had already sought the intervention of the country's three political principals — President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy, Arthur Mutambara, to act on the rot, which is weakening the already shaky government.

Revelations on the wastage of State resources by ministers come hard on the heels of Biti’s warning of a bleak economic outlook characterised by northward bound inflationary pressures, an unsustainable high public wage bill, lack of investment in power generation, water and roads infrastructure rehabilitation as well as a deteriorating balance of payments position.

The finance chief was forced to restrict foreign travel due to unsustainable and often unnecessary trips by the officials who have turned themselves into habitual travelers resulting in the country losing US$30 million in six months alone from external junkets.

Government ministers earn less than US$300 per month, far below the poverty datum line estimated at about US$500.To stretch their family budgets month-on-end, some of them are scrounging for every little opportunity available to go on “lucrative” foreign trips in order to sustain their lavish lifestyles.

The foreign junkets could have been more excessive had it not been for the travel ban slapped by the European Union and the United States between 2001 and 2005 on ZANU-PF ministers who constitute half of the Cabinet.

Ministers must first seek Cabinet authority before travelling outside the country.While there are instances whereby this rule has been ignored, revelations by Biti partly highlight the discord ripping apart the inclusive government of President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and deputy premier, Mutambara.

Due to excessive travelling, the unity government has had to reschedule some important meetings, missing crucial deadlines in the process.For example, a deadline that had been set by the Southern African Development Community for the conclusion of talks over the so-called outstanding issues between ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change formations, was missed because the negotiators from the three political formations were always out of the country.

To restrict travel, Biti had introduced a cocktail of measures. These included limiting travel to important and crucial meetings geared towards the promotion of the country’s economic recovery efforts, reducing the number of delegates and the management of trips within voted amounts and monthly allocations to ministries for such purposes, among others.

But Biti said he is disappointed that top officials have continued to travel more often than not in violation of the laid down rules and procedures.

“That is an area where we have failed and failed dismally. I need help from the principals. We cannot have a situation where half of the government is outside the country. I am going to table figures on foreign travel in Cabinet and embarrass some ministers,” Biti said.

Biti said while the coalition government is trying to “eat that which we have killed”, unfortunately, it is catching rats, but some of its members want to eat elephants.

“There has been no paradigm shift. Some people think that Zimbabwe is an El Dorado when in fact the economy is not performing,” he said.

Reports of the abuse of State resources by Cabinet ministers are not new.Last year, Biti threatened to take action against ministers who looted government assets before the formation of the transitional authority in February last year.As early as 1988, the then ZANU-PF secretary-general, Edgar Tekere, warned that corruption and other vices in high places were gnawing at the county’s economic fabric.

Biti said at the moment Treasury is recouping funds incurred as a result of excessive foreign travels from line ministries, but again it’s not proving to be effective as it is to the detriment of that particular ministry’s projects.Three weeks ago, Biti said the unenviable financial position the country finds itself in has forced government to revise downwards Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates from seven percent to around 4,7 percent.

GDP is basically the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year.The minister said another major drawback is the fact that while the current National Budget had envisaged to raise US$800 million from donors, only US$3 million has been realised so far. He said the balance of payments position remained precarious with 2009 exports pegged at US$1,6 billion against imports of US$3,2 billion translating into a negative trade balance of US$1,6 billion and an overall current account balance, excluding official transfers, of US$1,3 billion.

“The 2010 budget of US$2,25 billion counts on significant support from donors translating to US$810 million. In addition, the higher revenue projections of US$1,4 billion in 2010 from the US$1 billion in 2009 are premised on improved GDP performance, as indicated above. However, indications so far are that donor financing budgeted at over US$800 million, largely earmarked for capital development projects, is not forthcoming as only US$2,9 million has so far been accounted for in the first quarter of 2010,” said Biti.

“Similarly, domestic revenues, which are a function of economic performance, are under threat, owing to the unreliable supply of public utilities such as power and water, which is exacerbating under-performance particularly in agriculture, mining and manufacturing.”

As a result, he said, the downward revisions of GDP growth would affect the budget revenue realisations, particularly during the last half of the year.
In this case, the country would be poised to realise domestic budget revenues below US$1,4 billion.

“In the absence of notable inflows from co-operating partners, most originally planned capital development projects will remain unfunded, compromising prospects for improved service delivery especially on power, water and sanitation as well as other supportive infrastructure such as roads and railways,” the minister concluded.