With the economy in a tailspin, Finance minister Mthuli
Ncube’s role has become ever so important, but instead of being accessible, he
has shied away from the media.
In the past few weeks, his ministry has been engulfed in
controversy, more so the communications task force led by Acie Lumumba, but
instead of steadying the ship, Ncube has been eerily silent.
In an effort to get to the bottom of these issues, The
Standard sent Ncube a list of questions and, predictably, he didn’t answer,
instead he said the questions were backward-looking.
Below are the questions.
How would you
describe your first two months as Finance minister?
Having been away
from Zimbabwe for over a decade, were you prepared for the challenges that you
are facing in your new role and did anything surprise you?
What is your
assessment of the austerity measures you introduced a month ago?
President
Emmerson Mnangagwa hinted recently that the 2% tax on electronic transactions
would be reviewed. What will that entail?
What is the
government’s response to demands by civil servants to be paid in foreign
currency?
Before your
appointment, you were clear that bond notes must be scrapped, do you still hold
the same view?
How sustainable
is the government’s position that bond notes are 1:1 to the US dollar when the
market is saying otherwise?
The majority of
privately- owned health providers, including pharmacies, are now only accepting
US$, leaving many people without access to drugs and medicines. What is the
government doing to help those that can’t afford?
When is Zimbabwe
likely to get the guarantee from Afreximbank for the conversion of the real
time gross settlement balances?
Why are details
of the Afreximbank facilities not being made public for transparency?
Is your ministry
considering making public details of how the government accumulated billions of
dollars in debt through treasury bills?
Zanu PF has in
the past insisted that the party is supreme to government. How will you relate
with that since you are not a ruling party member?
How do you
intend to restore confidence in the economy following years of mismanagement
and policy inconsistencies?
Do you foresee
Zimbabwe having its own currency in the near future and what needs to be done in
the short-term to achieve that?
How is the
government reacting to claims made by Acie Lumumba who alleged that there are
cartels abusing government institutions and driving the foreign currency
parallel market?
What is your
reaction to claims that you paid Lumumba to make those claims?
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