Robert Mugabe and Grace Mugabe
In past Judiciary Report articles, such as on January 20,
2011 "Zimbabwe's
First Lady Spending Money Like It's Water", the site denounced
and warned against the
lavish spending of Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe and his
wife, Grace Mugabe. Using their nation's oil and gold riches,
the couple took six figure shopping trips, bought luxury
vehicles and built lavish mansions, which featured expensive
furnishings and amenities, such as gold toilets and crystal chandeliers.
This is one of
my pet peeves, world leaders using state money to live in
absolute luxury, while the people of their nations starve and go homeless.
It is not right that a man is peeing in a gold toilet, while
the poor in his nation "don't have a pot to p*ss in" as the
phrase goes.
A new report issued a week ago indicates Zimbabwe is running out of money. One
is not surprised. The Mugabes have misappropriated a few
hundred million dollars that could have gone to feeding,
clothing and housing the poor, as well as educating the
country. Low income housing and newer hospitals could have
been built as well.
Low interest rate loans could have been issued to
Zimbabweans to start small businesses to pull their families
out of poverty.
The lavish dining room in one of the $26,000,000 palaces
Grace Mugabe built with the people of Zimbabwe's money,
despite the fact there are high poverty levels in the
country. There should be a law against such financial
misappropriation of government funds. So many poor people
could be fed, clothed and housed selling the Mugabe mansions
bought with state funds.
Over a decade ago, I saw a fascinating
documentary on micro-loans issued to low income people in
developing nations to start small businesses. It worked and
they paid the loan money back. Some people who received micro-loans started small
businesses that specialized in things such as selling and
fixing bikes (in third world nations that heavily depend on
biking as a mode of transportation). Some made clothes and
other textiles by hand and sold them to the public. Some
invested the loan money into agriculture, buying seeds to
plant crops and raised chickens.
A few months ago, I read an interesting article about Bill
Gates, who has been working through his foundation to help
poor people in places such as Africa. Gates stated if he was
poor, he would buy a chicken, as they lay eggs that in turn
produce more chickens and eggs that can be sold. Good turn
over and a great idea for people in impoverished regions of
the world.
Low cost housing with solar panels and water tanks (to catch
rain water), communal wells, small vegetable patches in
backyards, as well as chicken coops to raise chickens, could
go a long way to helping poor people around the world. It is
possible, but some nations' leaders, such as Mugabe,
misappropriate money that could be used for such endeavors.
World leaders, especially in third world nations, which
usually have a higher poverty rate, need to help the poor.
There are small things that can be done to set them on the
path to financial stability. Global healthcare also needs to
improve. We need a stronger universal standard of care in
the world, especially the third world, to address the
problems facing the poor. Everybody deserves good health
care.
STORY SOURCE
As Zimbabwe's money runs out, so does Mugabe's power
Fri Nov 25, 2016 | 10:04am EST - In
Zimbabwe, where worthless $100 trillion notes serve as
reminders of the perils of hyperinflation, President Robert
Mugabe is printing a new currency that jeopardizes not just
the economy but his own long grip on power. Six months ago,
the 92-year-old announced plans to address chronic cash
shortages by supplementing the dwindling U.S. dollars in
circulation over the past seven years with 'bond notes', a
quasi-currency expected at the end of November.
According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ),
the bond notes will be officially interchangeable 1:1 with
the U.S. dollar and should ease the cash crunch. The central
bank also promised to keep a tight lid on issuance. After a
2008 multi-billion percent inflationary meltdown caused by
rampant money-printing, many Zimbabweans are skeptical. The
plan has already caused a run on the banks as Zimbabweans
empty their accounts of hard currency. Internal intelligence
briefings seen by Reuters raise the possibility that the
bond notes, if they crash, could spell the end of Mugabe's
36 years in charge...
A Sept. 29 Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) report revealed the powerful army was as unhappy as
the rest of the population with the new notes and had told
Africa's oldest leader to "wake up and smell the coffee".
"Top security officers have told Mugabe not to blame them if
Rome starts to burn," the report said...
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