Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s globetrotting has seen him splurge
US$36 million on foreign and domestic travel in the first 10 months of 2016,
piling pressure on a cash-strapped government that is failing to buy
painkillers for public hospitals, the Zimbabwe
By Taurai Mangudhla
 |
| *President Mugabe and wife, Grace |
While
recurrent expenditure, mostly civil service wages, gobbled 97% of the US$4
billion 2016 National Budget as of September, the Office of the President and
Cabinet (OPC) spent US$34,4 million on foreign trips that have yielded no
tangible results for Zimbabweans. OPC spent US$1,2 million on domestic travel,
according to figures obtained from the 2017 National Budget.
Mugabe’s trips outweighed expenditure by ministries such as
Macro-economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Energy and Power Development,
Transport and Infrastructure Development and Industry and Commerce as well as
the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
The expenditure came at a time Zimbabwe
A huge infrastructure gap estimated at US$20 billion has also resulted
in poor service delivery.
Former finance minister Tendai Biti criticised Mugabe for piling
pressure on Treasury at a time the economy is floundering.
“What kind of a President spends two months outside the country on a
holiday when his economy is in a fragile fiscal position?” Biti asked, adding
“it’s an indication he is not fit to govern.”
Biti said Mugabe, who now prioritises his trips, was always kept in
check by the opposition during the Government of National Unity (GNU) era.
“Post the GNU it is like a dog has been released from a leash,” Biti
said.
