Time to take owl by the horns

IT’S said if a thief kisses you, count your teeth.

The sooner we grasp the wisdom of this adage, the better given our predilection for not looking gift horses in the mouth. Whether by default or design, it appears we now accept, without question, ‘‘gifts’’ from those who have openly declared their intention to subvert what defines us as a people.

Surely, if we keep this childish innocence, one of these days we will wake up to plain gums with our teeth on display in either London or Washington, the same way Chief Chingaira’s head which was taken to England as a trophy sits in some museum in the bowels of Albion today.

You may wonder what I am fulminating about.

Well, last Wednesday US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray officially handed over audio and other digital equipment to Parliament ostensibly ‘‘as part of an ongoing effort to boost the capacity of parliamentarians and promote good governance’’ in Zimbabwe.

Uncle Sam’s destabilising arm, the United States Agency for International Development in conjunction with some outfit called the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust, funded the purchase and installation of the equipment that we were told was meant to ‘‘enhance the documentation and archiving of parliamentary debates and other proceedings in the august house’’.

It is envisaged that the state-of-the-art digital equipment; comprising 211 microphones, loudspeakers and headphones in both houses, microphones and servers in the six committee rooms, recording software, PCs and monitors for use by Hansard reporters; will enable Parliament to improve its ability to make official proceedings accessible to the media and the public.

These are all noble objectives that should be applauded, so what’s the problem? You may ask.

Well, call me paranoid or whatever but for some reason, I cannot help but feel we should sometimes vet some of these equipment donations from erstwhile and avowed enemies instead of rushing to install them in sensitive institutions without question.

Why should Uncle Sam give us this equipment when he can’t even allow us to buy from his companies or those of his allies? What’s in it for him?

For instance some of the planes the AFZ badly needs; the Hawks; have since been grounded, because the West refused to sell, not donate, sell spare parts as part of the sanctions regime. RBZ Governor Gideon Gono ended up printing bearer cheques on bond paper after Germany held on to fully-paid for bank note paper as part of the illegal sanctions regime. The examples are numerous, which is why, I take this ‘‘generosity’’ with a pinch of salt.

A friend of mine, resident in the West said the US has very sensitive unpublicised spy equipment that includes transmitters, cameras, etc that could be embedded in those computers, microphones, and screens to give Uncle Sam a much-needed bird’s eye view and listening post in Parliament.

Since we are virtually in a low-intensity war with Washington, wouldn’t it be prudent to just say “Thanks but no thanks” to some of these donations and lobby either our all-weather friends in the East to “donate” to us or alternatively buy from them if our legislators feel the need to speak through microphones, albeit on empty tummies, when they have heard each other without problems over the years?

And to show that the gift was not politically innocent, Senate President Cde Edna Madzongwe’s presence and comments at the handover ceremony were left out of the report prepared and distributed by the US Embassy Public Affairs Section that only had the voices of Charles Ray, Prime Minister Tsvangirai, House of Assembly Speaker Lovemore Moyo, and USAID Mission Director Karen Freeman.

I rest my case; and now to weightier matters.

It was almost like witnessing a child’s first; be it the first tooth, first step, first syllable, you name it, but our Government finally came of age two weeks back when it said enough is enough to Uncle Sam’s childish, vindictive agenda against public media journalists who are routinely harassed, frustrated or denied visas outright whenever they intend to travel to the UN General Assembly as part of President Mugabe’s delegation.

Happison Muchechetere and I were denied visas last year, and seeing there was not even a whimper from Government, the US embassy consular section tried it with Reuben Barwe this year, and made our news editor re-submit his application several times, and would have got away with it were it not for the formal complaint the Ministry of Foreign Affairs filed with the office of UN secretary general, Ban ki-Moon, that saw Barwe get his visa three days after the departure of the Presidential delegation.

That’s when the US embassy admitted, with a straight face, that even though there was what they called a Presidential Proclamation barring travel of people the MDC fingered for travel restrictions, that proclamation was of no force or effect where the travel pertained to UN business.

These are the same obligations that bind any EU member state hosting a UN Summit. As such the US embassy in Harare was in flagrant violation of international law and was never challenged.

In light of the foregoing, wouldn’t it be prudent for Government to challenge the economic and other forms of sanctions in International Courts since the sanctions; that were imposed outside the purview of the UN and in violation of multilateral pacts like the Cotonou Agreement; are a violation of international law?

Why didn’t the Government take Tony Blair’s regime to court for violating the international law of succession when it refused to be bound by obligations entered into with the Tory administration of Margaret Thatcher?

Why should Government continue calling for the lifting of sanctions, calls that always fall on deaf ears, when it’s clear that those who imposed the sanctions will not move an inch until they achieve the objectives for which the sanctions were imposed?

Why was Trinity Engineering boss, Senator Aguy Clement Georgias left to go it alone in suing the British government over the EU travel ban on Zimbabwean government officials?

Senator Georgias was, in 2005, barred by British immigration authorities from transiting through London to New York where he was to receive an international award on behalf of his company, Trinity Engineering.

The case, which opened at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London on March 14 2008, has since been referred to the European Court of First Instance with Senator Georgias vowing that nothing will stop him from pursuing the case to its logical conclusion.

‘‘I am eminently aware of the technical and procedural obstacles (of such a lawsuit). But these sanctions are having a negative impact on Zimbabwe, more than they infringe upon my individual rights to freely travel and do business wherever I choose.

“The sanctions are a contravention of international public law. It is as clear as daylight that the EU sanctions on Zimbabwe constitute a form of collective punishment on the people of Zimbabwe.

‘‘Now that can’t go unchallenged and I will not be stopped in pursuing my case.

“Someone has to say no to this kind of behaviour in international relations,’’ Senator Georgias said earlier this year.

Before deciding to sue, Sen Georgias had in 2006, written to Joseph Borell Fontells, president of the Council of the European Union; the Lord Chancellor of the British House of Lords, the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee; and Dennis Hastert, then Speaker of the US Congress calling for the lifting of sanctions

Surprisingly, through it all, he was left to go it alone as Government opted to sit back and watch, only periodically calling for the lifting of the sanctions when it’s clear that Westerners will never listen, the same way they continue turning a deaf ear over Cuba despite almost 20 consecutive UN General Assembly resolutions condemning the embargo.

I believe its high time Government not only challenged the legality of these sanctions at international law but also bought into the noble fight launched by Senator Georgias four years ago.

It’s not in our DNA as Zimbabweans to sit back and watch injustice flourish. It’s time to take the owl by the horns.

caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw