Candid Comment:Green Fuel: Ministers’ ‘ignorance’ of project shocking
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Friday, 18 May 2012 09:03
Itai Masuku
GREEN Fuel has dominated newspaper headlines over the past few weeks, but
not for reasons that are unlikely to turn anyone green with envy. In fact,
it is a classical case of why Africa continues to be backward.
Only yesterday, we heard a shocking statement from Energy minister Elton
Mangoma claiming he doesn’t know about the existence of the project, nor
does government. Now if a whole minister does not know about a mammoth
project portfolio, it then becomes clear why Zesa continues to plunge us
further into the dark. The responsible minister himself is in the dark about
a project cleared by cabinet. So why is that man being allowed to earn our
hard-earned tax money? And he makes strange bedfellows with Agriculture
minister Joseph Made who also says he’s not informed about the Green Fuel
pricing policy, when in fact his ministry is a 30% shareholder in the
project and presumably should have a seat on the board.
Why is he fuelling confusion? The ministry has representation in the Green
Fuel Project through Arda. So we in fact have two ministers who don’t know
what’s happening right under their noses. Or shall we say who don’t know
what they are doing? Or is it a simple case of selective amnesia? This last
possibility is very likely. It is particularly disappointing that MDC-T
ministers are not offering the breath of fresh air that the populace would
have expected. They ought to have shown a difference. Instead we get Mangoma
saying, “The issue of jobs and that of blackmail will not work”. By this is
he suggesting that he won’t be blackmailed by the argument raised by Green
Fuel that the project must not be scuttled because it will create 5 000 plus
jobs?
“I don’t care,” declares Mangoma. Is that a statement coming from a minister
from a so-called pro-worker party? And why doesn’t he care? Because even if
the project fails, “I will still remain a businessman”.
So it’s about him, and not the constituency he purports to represent. In
more progressive countries, he’d be out of office like a bat out of hell
when the next election comes.
“I have zero capital on politics,” he adds. Agreed. However, he says
something instructive for Green Fuel. “They have been given the opportunity
to interact with the government and they should use it.” Clearly,
interaction has taken place before the project began, hence why it had BOT
status and government is a 30% shareholder, has arranged a special water
deal for the company and land has been availed for the project, albeit some
of it under questionable circumstances.
In case the Rautenbachs, promoters of the project who have been doing
business in Africa, miss the hint, the key word is in the term “
interaction”. In Nigeria they call it a transaction. In Zambia it’s called
a missing page. Others call it oil for the machine. Conservative English
call it greasing the palms. Still don’t get it?
We obviously don’t advocate this but our paper has it on good authority
which palms need to be greased. Anyone who has been following the Green Fuel
saga can identify the palms, some have open palms and the others clenched
ones. They include MPs, cabinet ministers and other top government officials
(names supplied) some of whom are demanding free shares for themselves in
the company so as to facilitate the smooth flow of the project. So the issue
is not about indigenisation. The Rautenbachs are indigenous.Regrettably this
is the way of doing business in Africa. European governments have known this
for ages and some of them give tax rebates for their companies that would
have found themselves in such an invidious position.
In fact, that was the real reason why Transparency International was formed;
to fight corporate – government corruption.