"TO announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” — Theodore Roosevelt.
This is a powerful quote that all citizens can put to heart and practice.
Presidents are fallible, they are not beyond criticism.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa enjoyed his month-long annual leave until early this week, except for chairing the Sadc extraordinary summit on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The United States’ three months freeze of aid did not faze him, nor did he find it important to issue a national statement on the same.
It is neither here nor there, but in reality, the US freeze of aid announced by American President Donald Trump will change the face of public health, coupled with the withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
These three broad programmes are at the centre of world development — public health and climate change.
It is also a fact that the US was the single largest donor to WHO, providing nearly a fifth of all the funding.
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In some reports, the US is said to provide about 40% of the total aid to the world.
In Zimbabwe, the US was literally providing for public health.
It funded HIV and Aids programmes, TB, maternal health, sexual and reproductive health.
Besides providing the drugs and vehicles, the US paid for most of the staff working on the programmes.
The US was also funding climate change programmes, wildlife management and environmental programmes.
It funded these programmes directly to the government through specific ministries or through non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations and faith-based organisations.
It cannot be overemphasised that the US was at the centre of these programmes.
For the record, freezing or withdrawal of aid to these sectors has catastrophic results for the public and not mentioning the lives of those who implemented the programmes and are now redundant.
These developments have a bearing on the 2025 national budget.
How will the Zimbabwean government fill the funding gap? Will it realign or readjust the 2025 budget or will it go cap in hand begging for more international aid?
The least the Government of Zimbabwe could have done is issuing ministerial statements, especially from the ministries of Health, Finance and Economic Development and Investment Promotion, and the Climate and Environment.
It is now a good two weeks since Trump made the announcement on aid freeze.
From Sadc, Botswana was the most proactive country and it issued a public statement.
The statement acknowledged the important role the US aid played in its public health, the impact of the aid freeze and more importantly reassured the Batswana that the government will significantly improve its funding into the health sector.
South Africa also issued a statement.
It acknowledged that direct US aid was contributing 17% of funding to its HIV and Aids programming.
The same statement hinted at trying to placate the US to continue funding the programme and the South African government’s commitment to fund the gap left by the US.
Mnangagwa and his ministers have not issued any comprehensive statement, except for Mthuli Ncube who spoke at Davos, Switzerland, saying the aid freeze is not significant and they will ring fence taxes from burgers and French fries to fill in the gap.
The government has not given any signal on how many people will be affected by the aid freeze nor taken the citizens into confidence on how they will plug the gap in real terms, considering the ailing economy suffocating from a debt trap.
It is interesting why the Zimbabwe government has chosen to remain mum on the subject.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mushayavanhu this week revealed that the country was getting as much as US$1,2 billion in aid.
This is no small figure for a small economy like Zimbabwe.
If the United States aid was US$700 million, this is a large gap that cannot be sustained by taxes from burgers and fries.
One, therefore, can speculate that revealing the gravity of the aid freeze can soil Mnangagwa’s carefully choreographed image as a hardworking and delivering President.
It will expose the depth of how the country relied on aid to give such a vital service as public health.
Or worse still, such a revelation will expose Zanu PF as primarily concerned with power consolidation and retention.
This would be an inconvenient truth, especially at a moment when power struggles in Zanu PF have re-emerged as evidenced by central committee member Blessed Geza open call for Mnangagwa to step down.
More than ever, Mnangagwa should stop fiddling and roll up his sleeves getting a little dirty to fix the mess that Zanu PF has plunged the country into in the last 45 years, over reliance on foreign aid for public health.
Mnangagwa should find his voice, speak to the public on the matter and above all take the citizens into his confidence that he has a plan, if he has one.
That is what leadership is all about.
The opening quotation from Roosevelt helps us find our moral compass as Zimbabweans at this dark hour in Zimbabwe’s history.
It behooves us to look dispassionately at our president warts and all and make a decision.
Zimbabwe’s public health is the sole responsibility of the serving government.
This same government is headed by Mnangagwa and he should tell us the plan.
Like argued in my last instalment, Parliament has to step up to the plate and do its duty of oversight on the executive.
That is what they are supposed to be doing, not singing praises to the Executive.
Zimbabwe is burning.
It now has multi-faceted problems ranging from currency stability, failure to offer service delivery, rampant corruption in both public and private sectors and ballooning debt, among others.
Leaders should stop fiddling and douse the flames.
- Paidamoyo Muzulu is a journalist based in Harare. He writes here in his personal capacity.
