'World Bank offered me a job' - Gono says in new book

'World Bank offered me a job' - Gono says in new book

JOB OFFER: Gono reveals in new book he was offered top World Bank job if he quit as Reserve Bank governor

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By Lebo Nkatazo
Posted to the web: 08/12/2008 17:17:14
ZIMBABWE’S central bank chief launched a new book on Monday night chronicling his experiences over an eventful five years in charge of the world’s worst performing economy.

In the book, Zimbabwe's Casino Economy: Extra-ordinary Measures for Extra-ordinary Challenges, Gideon Gono, reveals that the World Bank (WB) offered him a job as a senior vice president of the Bretton Woods institution despite him being on the European Union and United States targeted sanctions list.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, who had his term extended by a further five years by President Robert Mugabe last week, said the idea to write the book came to him while on a plane from Mauritius.

"Just as I was being dragged to the UN security council to be put on the sanctions list, I was offered a job by the World Bank as senior vice president with the full blessings of none other than George Bush himself," Gono told the 200 guests who attended his book's launch at Rainbow Towers hotel in Harare.

In the book, he says the US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee was involved in making him the offer. A trail of communications is reproduced to back up the claim in the book which sold for US$45 at the launch.

Gono said he had written a lengthy letter to the World Bank in reply, inquiring whether he would be taken off the sanctions if he accepted the job.

"They said they would remove me from the list and promised that they would see what to do with my friends already on the illegal sanctions list," he said.

Gono added: "In my humble book that we are here to launch, I dwell not so much on my personal history but mainly on shedding light on the deep philosophical drivers that shaped the orientation and conduct of the RBZ's monetary policy programme under my watch over the past five year.

"As I rolled my sleeves to get down to work from 1 December, 2003, I was to be confronted by the sobering realities of our economy degenerating into a literal casino, driven by individual and in some instances collective greed, indiscipline, corruption, deceit and general lack of unity of purpose among stakeholders.

"The past five years have opened my eyes and conscience to the ugly face of double standards. Smear propaganda, conspiracy and incomprehensive betrayal of the Zimbabwean people's interests by some in the international community."

Gono has taken a hit from the opposition and government critics who blame him for fuelling the world’s highest inflation of 231 million percent through the printing of money to sustain an unpopular government.

But Gono, the former CEO of a local commercial bank insists that sanctions imposed on the country by western governments have hit the economy hard, undoing government efforts to establish stability. (additional reporting RadioVOP)
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