Mugabe squandering millions
British MP urges Whitehall to spend its aid to Zimbabwe on voter education since Mugabe is squandering money on foreign travel
The Zimbabwean News Live
15 July 2017
Kate Hoey
A British Member of Parliament, Kate Hoey, this week asked Foreign and Commonwealth Minister Rory Stewart to spend British aid to Zimbabwe on voter education because President Robert Mugabe was refusing to implement the 2013 constitution.
Q&A:
Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab): What recent assessment he has made of the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe?
The Minister for Africa (Rory Stewart): I pay tribute to the hon. Lady’s long campaign on this subject. Our policy on Zimbabwe continues to be to try to balance our deep distaste at the horrifying record of the Mugabe regime with a genuine concern for the humanitarian needs of the Zimbabwean people, who have suffered terribly over the past 40 years.
Kate Hoey: I welcome the Minister to his position and wish him every success. Mugabe spent $53 million on private travel overseas last year. At the same time, the United Kingdom is paying proportionately more in aid to that country than to any other country in Africa. Does the Minister think that, with the elections coming next year and Mugabe refusing to implement the 2013 constitution, now is the time to put some of that money into helping voter education in those rural areas controlled by ZANU-PF, or we will not have free and fair elections?
Rory Stewart: I agree. We are trying to balance a very difficult thing, which, as the hon. Lady says, is the terrible performance of the Mugabe regime with the fact that people in that country have been dying of cholera and suffering extreme humanitarian need. The hon. Lady is absolutely correct that focusing on free and fair elections is one of the most important things we can do in a country such as Zimbabwe.
James Duddridge (Rochford and Southend East) (Con): The policy of incremental engagement with Zimbabwe is obviously the best—sometimes an unpalatable best—policy, but will the Minister consider visiting Zimbabwe in the near term, as that would be a great step forward and would perhaps put the UK in a better position for the relationship in the longer term?
Rory Stewart: My hon. friend has huge expertise as a former Africa Minister. The decision on whether or not I, as the Minister, visit Zimbabwe depends a great deal on the genuine commitment to reform of the Zimbabwean Government, and I will be guided by the ambassador in the country as to when such a visit would be necessary and possible.