  Economics takes center stage at World Council Assembly Debt-cancellation proposals gaining momentum  By Parker T. Williamson The Presbyterian Layman Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Poverty abounds One does not have to travel far in this city to see evidence of the poverty that plagues its people. Taxi drivers tell us that there are fewer beggars and street children than usual on Harare's streets, a result, they say, of police roundups that occur whenever a group like the WCC comes to town. "The police go around and collect them," said Joshua Mawindo, a driver who has been shuttling Assembly visitors from the downtown hotels to their meeting site at the University of Zimbabwe. But despite such face-lifting efforts, evidence of the poverty that is crippling Zimbabwe abounds. The economy is suffering its worst crisis since independence in 1980. Massive inflation that soars past 40 percent and a 70 percent drop in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar in the past 12 months have thrown this economy into turmoil. Hotels require payment in foreign currency. When merchants receive US dollars, they hoard them as long as they can, waiting for them to increase in value. Blaming the West Who is to blame for this crisis? President Robert Mugabe blames the rest of the world, primarily the West. He says that the "globalized economy" is destabilizing his country and that its $100-billion debt is crushing his people. Thelma Adair and a chorus of WCC regulars agree. Posters, rallies, T-shirt slogans, plenary speeches on the evil of "globalization," and feature articles in the Assembly's official newspaper all promote the theme that the Third World is poor because it has been victimized by the West. Debt cancellation is the suggested remedy. But even in Harare, where the mass media is state controlled, one can hear voices that challenge Mugabe's assessment of the problem. Professor John Mukumbe, reputed to be one of the country's most outspoken analysts, points an accusatory finger at Mugabe himself, and at the corruption that has riddled his government. Referring to government corruption, Mukumbe, who identifies himself as an evangelical Christian, told a correspondent to the WCC's Jubilee newspaper, "If the WCC does not understand the context of the country in which it is meeting, it is a sin." Government corruption The problem that arises in direct aid and loan programs is that donors and lenders have no assurance that money coming into the country accomplishes the purposes for which it was intended. International loans are channeled by government officials to corporations that are either unwilling or unable to develop the intended product. Company executives and government bureaucrats who are rewarded with kickbacks become wealthy and the Zimbabwean people end up saddled with further debt. The debt continues to grow. Harare's major newspaper, The Sunday Herald, reported on December 6 that President Mugabe defied international sanctions by flying to Lybia where he negotiated a $100 million dollar loan (in US dollars) for the state's nearly bankrupt oil company from Colonial Muammar Gaddafi. No details on the terms of the agreement were included in the report. The newspaper also reported that Mugabe's wife, Grace, is on the list of persons identified in a scheme to defraud a home lending trust. According to the report, participants obtained $34 million in loans, ostensibly to build new homes or renovate old ones, and pocketed the money without applying it to housing. After being challenged publicly, the First Lady repaid her loan of $5,848,333. Mugabe himself is immune from prosecution for any offense while he is in office.
"Until something is done about government corruption, we will never get control of this problem," WCC delegate Timothy Royle told the Presbyterian Layman. Royale, a representative of the Church of England where he is a lay leader and a member of the General Synod, may be a lonely voice in the Harare Assembly. His complaint with the WCC is that it appears to make public pronouncements on complex economic issues that reflect sentiment in lieu of good sense. "If world governments are going to listen to the WCC's counsel in such matters - and I must say that is highly unlikely - then we have to show that we understand the other side of the coin," said Royle. The WCC must include in its debt-relief proposal some understanding of the role that corruption plays in these countries and make some provision for dealing with it." "We have the same problems in the Church of England," says Royle, "where we make sweeping statements that have no relationship to the facts. The government just laughs at this. We simply must do a better job, and that's what I hope we can accomplish at this meeting of the WCC." Sentimental economics Frank Knaggs, another Church of England delegate, agrees with his colleague. He says he resents "accusations that we're bloodsuckers" when he and a handful of delegates suggest the need for fiscal and monetary controls. "WCC leaders think they are doing something for 'indigenous people, the poorest of the poor' when they promote these debt-relief proposals," he complained. "But that's emotion talking. They are not helping the poor at all. They are just lining the pockets of corrupt officials, and leaving the poor to repay the debt with taxes and inflation. And then we're told that we are actually responsible for getting them in debt, so we ought to forgive it for the sake of the poor." Royle is trying to organize a group of delegates at the Assembly, primarily evangelicals, to place a rider on the debt-relief proposals. The rider calls on the WCC to "urge on all governments the urgent need to take action against all forms of corruption and illegal diversion of loans so as to restore confidence with the lending parties." Official resistance Royle's amendment faces an uphill battle in this Assembly. During a press conference on Friday, a reporter asked WCC Moderator Aram I if he would be willing to entertain an amendment to the debt-relief proposals that would pressure third-world governments on the issue of corruption. Aram dismissed the question, saying "Corruption is everywhere." WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser also responded, saying that it is "not the policy of the WCC to put pressure on governments." |
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