BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA.
The American ambassador in Zimbabwe is behaving like a demigod and is way out of order and lost. He has removed the robes of diplomatic cover and descended in the local politics wherein he has been blinded by the dust of the local politics, American ambassador is behaving like a bully he is and doing all he can to put Zimbabwe in a very bad light.
Zimbabwe is entering in yet another act of provocation by America. Zimbabwe suffers from this foreign aggression from all fronts. The perpetrators of the disturbances are the strong economies who are bent to see confusion in any country which has resources. In a twitter send by the USA high commissioner IN Zimbabwe he said” “Transparency is critical -even in an emergency- for democracy to function,”
USA and EU have decided to run with the corruption narrative to counter calls for sanctions as the cause of our troubles. They have roped in journalists’ activists and opposition to run with this narrative. As a result, the demonstration of the 31st July is being given acres of space in the social media to impress on the wrong narrative of corruption.
Zimbabwe is being judged on the same issues that they fail to uphold. They are racists in how they treat Zimbabwe. White countries get away with the same crimes Zimbabwe is being accused of. Money is being used to divide Africans and Zimbabweans in particular. If there was no donor funding for these activists, we would have found unity long back. The money makes these activists continue so that they paint Zimbabwe black for them to keep the status quo going. It is not a secret that Hopwell Ching’ono is a political activist, journalism is only used as a cover to protect his activism.
Foreign interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence political positions in another country. There are many ways that nations have accomplished regime change abroad, and electoral intervention is only one of those methods. What we are seeing now is how America is using the opposition to destroy Zimbabwe. There is more corruption in the Western countries than the narrative they are running with. The British media reported on the 2nd July 2020 that “Lifestyle Company with No Employees or Trading History Handed £25 Million PPE Contract Stephen Delahunty reports on another case of a private company with no expertise or experience providing personal protective equipment being engaged by the Government to do so “The Great British COVID-19 procurement scandal continues after a newly published contract revealed yet another business with little experience or expertise being awarded a multi-million-pound contract to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS. Design company Luxe Lifestyle Ltd was awarded a £25 million contract on 27 April to supply garments for biological or chemical protection to the NHS.
According to Companies House, the business was incorporated by fashion designer Karen Brost in November 2018. However, it appears to have no employees, no assets and no turnover.” Reported Stephen Delahunty Additional research into the company’s background using business information provider Endole revealed no evidence that the company has done any trading at all. It is not clear how a business with no experience in the sector is able to meet its contractual requirements to provide 1.2 million gowns and 10 million FFP2/KN95 masks to the NHS during a national crisis. This scenario is exactly the scenario in the Draxgate. The difference is that this was done by a British company and the rules of corruption in the UK are completely different from the rules which apply in Zimbabwe.
The Americans did not even Tweet a complaint about this company but made a meal out of the Zimbabwean situation. This shows us that America uses Zimbabweans who are bent to tarnish the countries image in carrying ahead a corruption narrative. When this corruption is done in their backyard, they do not raise a finger. They simply sweep it under their already filled up carpets. To make things worse Brost was previously the secretary of another company called Belharra Limited that described itself as a clothing and footwear wholesaler, yet this was wound up around four months before Luxe Lifestyle Ltd was incorporated. Brost however, set up another brand in March this year called Zazaboom, the products of which include handmade designer face masks costing £25 each, not NHS standard PPE. Brost has not responded to a request for comment. However, an anonymous person claiming to be a spokesperson for Brost contacted Byline Times after the publication of this article using mlilimited.com as an email address. After multiple requests, they refused to identify themselves or pass on contact details for the company or its directors.This is not the first example of a business with seemingly little experience or expertise being awarded a major contract by the Government to supply PPE.Byline Times has already reported concerns from senior industry consultants working within Public Health England (PHE), and specifically the PPE division, that procurement is a shambolic system of tenders, with no due diligence and poor management.
As the pandemic unfolded, and the use of highly specialised PPE increased exponentially, instead of contacting existing suppliers and then widening the reach to more than 150 established PPE suppliers in the UK, PHE panicked. It evoked emergency procurement procedures – regulation 32(2)(c) under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 – which allowed for the sourcing of goods without the formal tender process.
This is how a small and medium-sized business (SME) called PestFix with assets of just £18,000 was awarded a contract of more than £108 million for PPE. Another company called Excalibur, incorporated in January 2020, received an order for £25 million of N95 and KN95 masks. This company was set up by Biotechnology entrepreneur, Professor Sir Chris Evans.
In addition, Conservative Party donors have also been found to be cashing in on PPE shortages during the crisis. In April, it was reported that haulage firm Clipper Logistics was appointed to be in charge of a new supply channel for personal protective equipment to the NHS. Its founding executive chairman is Steven N Parkin, a top Conservative Party donor who has attended Leaders Group meetings and donated just under £1 million to the party over the past five years or so. The boss of a logistics firm, Conservative donor, and vocal supporter of the Vote Leave campaign was also found to be involved in Coronavirus contracts in May. Andrew Baxter, the managing director of Europa Worldwide Group, personally donated £10,000 to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2019 and has made tens of thousands of pounds in donations to the Conservative Party since 2017, according to the elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission. This if it happened in Zimbabwe it would be described as a corrupt system. What this shows us is that the nations who appointed themselves masters of clean governance are corrupt themselves. This only shows that their intentions are never about good governance. It is just a ploy to destabilise the good country of Zimbabwe. While in America The White House Pushed FEMA To Give its Biggest Coronavirus Contract to a Company That Never Had to Bid.
The Trump administration has rushed through more than $760 million in contracts outside the usual bidding process during its haphazard coronavirus response. It is highly unusual for the White House to step into FEMA’s supply bidding process. Reported David McSwane and Yeganeh Tobarti on the 10th April 2020. “Paramedic Lisa Hicks wears a powered air-purifying respirator, or PAPR, similar to the ones produced by AirBoss, and a Tyvek suit in Aspen, Colorado, on April 3”. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times via AP) reported.It is unclear why the White House chose AirBoss for the protective equipment, which is similar to products made by other vendors.
“I can’t think of an example of the White House sending FEMA a directive to procure items from a particular company in a particular manner,” said Tim Manning, a former FEMA deputy administrator during the Obama administration. The March 31 FEMA contract called for the company to produce 100,000 powered respirators and filters for medical workers treating patients in New York — a critical need that the Trump administration has been slow to address. All these anomalies are not described as corruption in the USA and their ambassador to Zimbabwe does not see the log in his eye because he spends his time looking out for corruption from Zimbabwe.
For FEMA, the single deal makes up two-thirds of the $140 million the agency has spent on COVID-19 response through April 8, federal purchasing data shows. These purchases were never authorized by the American people and there was no transparency which the American Ambassador to Zimbabwe spends time lecturing to Zimbabwe. In response to questions from ProPublica about the award, FEMA said the company “provided an unsolicited offer to the Government which was found to be acceptable.” If this answer was the same given by Zimbabwe America will try desperately to attach a relationship of the company to the first family.
Even in America the Trump White House’s involvement in purchasing supplies is highly unusual, because the task of figuring out the best suppliers is typically left to procurement professionals and acquisition lawyers who know the markets best, Manning said. This corruption exhibited by America is only a privilege of America and not any other. Vice President Mike Pence leads the official White House Coronavirus Task Force, which is made up of representatives from federal agencies and is overseeing the pandemic response. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, a White House official, has also established his own group working on the coronavirus response, which critics have dubbed a “shadow task force,” complaining that it adds another layer of confusion and bureaucracy to an already chaotic government effort.
This interference by the White House is seen as normal simply because it has been done by the big brother. When the Americans complained Trump fired the head of the CORONAVIRUS BAILOUT OVERSIGHT BOARD. If this was done in Zimbabwe it will be the American Embassy who will lead the tweets. This behavior is undiplomatic, pervasive and totally obscene. NPR reviewed a database of thousands of contracting actions connected to the COVID-19 public health crisis and identified more than 250 companies that got federal contracts worth more than $1 million without going through a fully competitive bidding process. This behavior by America must simply disqualify it from the world prefect. At most the American behavior is inciting and must be stopped.In the past few years, a lot of minerals were discovered in Zimbabwe. The greedy superpowers have stretched their hands to dip into our national cake. In order to achieve this, they have to cause confusion and civil strife. Exploitation of any resources needs civil strife as it is a good breeding ground for corruption and exploitation. America has mastered Conflict causation in order to manage their stealing of our resources. It is a pity that our people are ready to be used as the conductors of such.
NPR reviewed a database of thousands of contracting actions connected to the COVID-19 public health crisis and identified more than 250 companies that got federal contracts worth more than $1 million without going through a fully competitive bidding process.
The U.S. government has granted contracts worth as much as $25 billion as it races to address the COVID-19 public health crisis. NPR reviewed a database of thousands of contracting actions and found more than 250 companies that got contracts worth more than $1 million without going through a fully competitive bidding process.
Some of the companies, such as Baul’s, had little or no experience with personal protective equipment. Others had never worked in the medical field at all. Contractors also included a company that imported vodka and a school security consultant.
Sixteen of the companies had only registered to do business with the government for the first time this year. And at least three companies formed just days before they obtained the contracts, NPR found.
These companies often acted as “middlemen,” obtaining the medical supplies from other manufacturers, some in China, records show. That meant they were competing with federal agencies, state governments and local health systems trying to buy the same equipment on the global market.
Government procurement experts say federal officials were trying to move quickly to deliver desperately needed personal protective equipment. But they question the need to turn to contractors who have never worked with the government before and lacked experience making or delivering the protective gear.
“Giving business to people who don’t have experience is something you don’t want to do in an emergency,” says Joshua Schwartz, a professor of government contracts law and co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at George Washington University’s School of Law. But this is what has happened in the USA and the UK.
The Ambassador of America to Zimbabwe must just be withdrawn he is not a diplomat. He is abusing the diplomatic privilege he has; he is a political activist who is meant to be disturbing the nation.
The attack on Zimbabwe by the US embassy has gone beyond the bounds of diplomatic etiquette. No where in the world one can witness such provocation. There are thousands of corruption cases in the US yet they have the audacity of attacking Zimbabwe. The arrests of the two man in Zimbabwe and the way America tries to make heroes out of them is pathetic. No one should be above the law in Zimbabwe. It does not have to matter whether the person is supported by American ambassador or not. Zimbabwe is a sovereign nation and must not be guided by the countries who are condoning corruption in their own countries.
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