The cost of the president’s globetrotting

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PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe had by September blown over $33,2 million on foreign travels after he embarked on numerous trips across the globe.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe had by September blown over $33,2 million on foreign travels after he embarked on numerous trips across the globe.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

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According to the 2016 budget estimates of expenditure (Blue Book) Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa allocated $17,3 million for Mugabe’s travels in 2015, but the 91-year-old leader had by the first nine months of the year, overshot his travel budget, spending double what had been budgeted for.

According to reports, Mugabe had by July clocked 220 000km flying to destinations such as Moscow, New York, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali, Japan, Indonesia, Zambia, Singapore, Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa and India.

Mugabe’s budget allocation is his alone and excludes the money spent by the huge entourage he travels with.

In 2014 Mugabe on his own gobbled $38 million of the $4,1 billion national budget.

Chinamasa in 2016 again allocated $17, 3 million for Mugabe’s trips.

Opposition parties blasted Mugabe’s penchant for travelling when key economic ministries were allocated as little as a third of the president’s travel budget.

The money allocated for Mugabe’s travel is equivalent to that given to the Industry and Commerce ministry in the 2016 budget.

Chinamasa also allocated small amounts to other key economic ministries such as Mines and Mining Development $5,9 million and Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development $6,3 million.

Parliament of Zimbabwe got $20,2 million for the whole of next year.

The amounts allocated to the Mines and SMEs ministries put together are even less than the allocation for the President’s travels.

The President’s Office got a total allocation of $180,1 million in 2016.

The Blue Book shows that by September 2015, Mugabe’s travels had already gobbled $33,2 million for the first nine months of the year.

Zimbabwe’s industries, parastatals and state enterprises are in a comatose state and are in dire need of capital injection to resuscitate them and create employment.

Analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said the $17 million budget allocation for Mugabe’s 2016 travels showed that the 91-year-old leader did not have much to do other than travel and that the country was running on autopilot.

MDC-T secretary for Economic Affairs Webster Chinyadza said the Zanu PF government had a penchant for consumption, adding the sad thing was that there was nothing tangible coming out of Mugabe’s foreign travels that warranted an allocation bigger than the capital expenditure budget.

People’s Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume said the allocation for Mugabe’s travels showed that government was out of touch with reality and people’s plight where millions faced hunger.

MDC spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi said he was worried that latest figures from the Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit, showed that foreign travel expenses exceeded the previous budget by nearly 240% while employment costs and capital works overshot the target by 16% and 23%, respectively.