NGO or WGO: Reality behind opposition to Bill
By Nathaniel Manheru
I do not care what reprisals I draw from this tribe of depraved bipeds working for the
so-called Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) industry. After all, I grow my own
food. I do not feed off corn-soya blend, generously napkined by an American flag
begging for accolades. Simply put, these bipeds are a dishonest lot, right down to the
man, yes, right down to the woman. They crave, feed and fatten on human tragedies . .
. or rumours of them, much the same way maggots grow white-fat on decaying carcasses;
much the same way green flies obey the pull of . . . er . . . the pull of human
effluvia, all in the hope of a prized find of a mount of decaying dung and muck.
I do not like them at all and I make no effort to hide it. Almost all well overfed,
almost all filthy rich, no integrity sticks on their depraved nature, no "earnings"
enough satiate their vapid materialism which bloats and bloats with more "eating". I
would not have minded if they were content only to "eat" the white man's money. After
all he creamed so much from us, too much for any modicum of recompense. What miffs me
is the fact that we all have to suffer mischaracterization - fit a certain stereotype
that yields fat humanitarian jobs, salaries, allowances, fees, retainers and per diems
for them.
Good News is Bad T&S
Like real vermins, they do not welcome good news. For good news yield no crises, yield
no "aid", no foreign trips and conferences that ooze T&S and disreputable nights,
indeed yield no consultancies. An immoral lot that blows out billions to establish
that this world has poor people who breathe; has poor people with a pair of legs, a
pair of hands, a mouth that likes to eat, a body that sleeps, and a frame slowly
shrinking and collapsing from immunodeficiency. These most profound and well-paid men
and women of NGOs! And from their glossy consultancies, the poor world gets richer in
sonorous verbiage: gender sensitivity/balance; governance, rule of law, transparency,
exclusionary, press freedom empowerment, trickle-down/up/sideways/nowhere, etc, etc.
You repeat this magic vocabulary, rewards gush, pecuniary rewards that is, merely for
repeating it in various contexts coloured by a bit of maudlin sentimentality.
It has become some kind of "child talk" where a word like "mummy" asks for water, for
milk, for attention, for the toilet or simply for nothing. You mount a "study" on
behalf of USAID to show Zimbabwe suffers a democracy deficit, just making sure your
conclusion sprinkles some of these catch-all words and express a wish and exhortation
for a "democracy surplus" assured by South-African-led international pressure for
"regime change".
In no time a few hundreds of thousands of United States dollars pour your way, and
soon after, you make a discreet visit to the arcane world of an Indian foreign
currency dealer kumachabiyana uko-oo, and in no time you are turned into an irreverent
billionaire who knows neither God nor man.
Only pleasure and vainglory. For a while you drift into oblivion simply to find time
to listen to, watch and admire your munching jaws, only to re-emerge when you seek
another tranche, again secured at the expense of the poor. It is a whole circuit of
such human beings, given to riotous weekend binges in the leafy suburbs of Harare
where music, drink and sex, spiced by irreverent gossip are swopped freely in this
norm-less world of bohemian lifestyle.
No normalcy please, we are NGOs.
As I have said, this tribe does not wish or welcome any normalcy. Things have to be
unsettled; have to be in a constant state of flux or endless topsy-turvy. And that
includes helping them in that direction, so the donor world remains riveted, its
hypocritical heart unbuckled for generous "aid" they are only happy to intercept under
nameless guises. Zimbabwe must remain a basket case, regardless of its good harvests
and economic recovery. It must remain torn by gratuitous political violence in order
to create displaced persons who merit "aid".
Its civil society must remain "gravely threatened" to deserve "international
assistance". And in our case, "civil society" is another name for the same NGOs which
seek money for "civil society"! It is a financially rewarding self-reference. So
Zimbabwe has to remain a crisis lest Kagoro's "Crisis Coalition" ceases to have money
and meaning!
Regime change WGO
But there is more to the story. A simple audit of the so-called NGOs we have here
reveals that the majority of them are registered for the sole or principal objective
of "governance" as defined and prescribed by the Americans, the British, the Germans,
the Dutch, the Danes and the Swedes.
This mission pits them against the poor of this world, against the governors of this
land, on behalf of bitter Blair, bitter white settler farmers. Yes on behalf of bitter
Tsvangirai, himself a creation of first two.
They are "regime change" WGO (western/white governmental organizations) that seek to
carve a Trojan horse in the conventional notion of NGO. How else should one view
Madhuku, Kagoro, Makumbe?
How else should one view all those WGOs only keen to distribute food in what they
perceive as MDC's captive constituencies?
Our poor who art in MDC
But I have more coming. On balance, the greater part of "aid" money sent to this
country has found its way to the MDC and its structures. Not to the poor. Not to the
needy.
It has come from Western governments through WGOs to the MDC which has been turned
into the principal orphan of this society, the most starving, the person most living
with HIV/Aids, in other words the most deserving beneficiary of that aid. It has
captured all aid meant for food, shelter, education, health, community development,
etc, etc.
Not because it is clever, but simply because the western world has chosen to use it
and WGOs to effect regime change here in Zimbabwe. Need we wonder that it seeks to
perpetuate the myth of crisis? A whole economy has been built around this myth and
much investment has gone towards its elaborate replay. And this is as unknown to the
West is a suckling child is unknown to its mother. Western ambassadors accredited to
Zimbabwe know what is going on, in fact are a principal part of what is going on in
the so-called NGO world.
They created it; distorted it to present political grotesquery. They need not cry or
play surprise at the resultant formulation of the NGO Bill which is but a response.
They know what mischief it seeks to correct and they know who brewed that mischief.
They also know that law-making is matter of sovereignty and cannot countenance foreign
influence and still claim any measure of integrity. They know that bills are meant for
national parliament, not for foreign embassies and ambassadors, however long their
noses are.
And they know they have a bad-enough presence in our parliament, through their odious
MDC. That they have no faith in its ability to sway the outcome is no basis for
wanting to make law for us. We kept a respectable distance as they manacled civil
rights in their jurisdictions (through laws like Patriot Act) and sought to export the
same beyond their jurisdictions. Zimbabwe expects no less and has every right to use
law and all to build institutions that are truly national and that have integrity.
Prostituting UN, exciting Czech envoy
Whatever his pretences, the outgoing Victor Devilo knows all. In fact his colleague,
the Ghanaian Busia sent here to repair the damage he caused in his zeal to serve the
West, not the UN, told western diplomats as much recently, much to their chagrin.
Busia had to be protected by the new British ambassador - ironically - as he suffered
assaults, led by the zealous Czech ambassador. The West has politicised NGOs here,
robbing them of their bona fide standing as NGOs.
They should have known that whoever brings in a log infested with ants, invites the
lizard. As for this Czech ambassador, well, Manheru has a simple message for him. Let
him be very careful how he enjoys his country's nominal EU membership.
His is no donor country; his is no imperial country. In fact the then Czechoslovakia
was a friend of liberation movements, and the regard Southern Africa accords the
mission he heads emanates from that fact of history.
Maybe Czechoslovakia's proud association with national freedom struggles went with the
Slovak Republic, leaving none for its Czech excision. If this is what he wants to
convince Southern Africa, the same way the Swedes and Danes have done, so be it. We
will oblige and shall be happy to put him in league with the worst representation of
imperial Britain.
Good to see you Excellencies
Never since the Third Chimurenga had one seen so many Western diplomats at the
airport, ready to participate in a State Occasion hosted by a Government they regard
as illegitimate. I am referring to this week's State Visit of President Museveni,
which saw virtually all Western ambassadors in attendance.
Yes, including the new British ambassador! I understand the State Banquet was just as
well attended. What brief did they get from their capitals? What message are they
conveying? That they respect President Museveni? That they are working towards a
rapprochement with Zimbabwe? Or cuddling Zanu-PF into suicidal concessions ahead of
the 2005 elections so to bury it eternally? Or all of these?
And the Swedish lady inelegant as usual
I was quite intrigued to see the Swedish Ambassador in attendance. This intractably
anti-Zimbabwe, anti-Zanu-PF ambassador had just played host to a fairly senior member
of the Swedish Government sent on a fact-finding mission.
In her infinite Rhodesian wisdom, she fastened blinkers on the official who was made
to see a string of opposition personalities from day one until his last-but-one day
when he was hurried to Foreign Affairs for a perfunctory, interrogative meeting with
Zimbabwe's officials.
The questions the official was made to raise had a stink of staleness, hardly taking
the two countries an inch forward from the current impasse. She was determined to
protect her jaundiced view of Zimbabwe and convinced the official Zimbabwe equals the
habitat of MDC officials. That way the trip was made self-fulfilling. It's a Swedish
problem and until her Government comes to its senses the same way the British did with
Donnelly, it shall be one hack of a stalemate.
What is Blair up to?
His spin doctors call it "Africa" and even "African Commission". His detractors call
it Blair's Commission. However you call it, a blair is a blair, and it smells and
stinks the same. This week Blair came to Ethiopia, via Sudan where he staged Mr. Tough
Guy, setting conditions to be met by the Sudanese Government . . . or else. Or else
what?
Well, he proposes a 15 000 strong European Union Force ready to rapidly deploy to any
part of Africa as an interim measure pending AU or UN intervention which we know to be
protracted or never! It amounts to a re-occupation of Africa under the guise of
achieving greater good for her. And Blair says it with wrinkled conviction, even
expecting a cheer for it.
Well, he got Africa's jeer instead, taking the form of a near universal boycott by the
continent's leadership.
Save for the affable Zenawi who had to play host as a matter of good manners, the rest
of Africa's leadership simply continued about its business, leaving Blair to lip-sing,
soprano-ed by Bob Geldof, the man who made millions from (not for) the hunger of
Sahel.
Salving Blair's conscience
But something else is happening and one hopes the new British Ambassador can tell
Blair it's patently senseless. Blair, through his ambassador in Namibia, one Alasdair
MacDermott, donates a paltry one hundred thousand pounds towards Namibia's land
reforms, and also dispatches one Martin Adams contracted by his DFID to help Kenya
resolve her land question.
What is the idea? To spite Zimbabwe? I hope not, for I do not know how one can ever
spite a revolution that has delivered. Or is Blair salving his conscience?
Again, I do not know how that would work on a continent which views Britain as
synonymous with Africa's vexed land question. It is much like his Africa Commission
which pretends and parade a concern singularly absent in his greater body-economic.
Creating institutions in the name of the poor is not quite ending poverty, is it?
Did it have to be a liar dear churchmen?
I have no problems with the likes of Themba Nyathi, Brian Kagoro and Welshman Ncube
lying. I have huge problems when men of the cloth deliberately mislead a whole
minister of the Government of Thabo Mbeki. This week the entire MDC constituency was
in Pretoria, South Africa, under the banner of the South African Council of Churches.
Apart from drawing per diems, this motley crowd pretended to be discussing Zimbabwe's
electoral prospects. But they were acutely aware of their illegitimacy, compounded by
the fact that the whole gathering had been convened at the behest of the British who
wanted it to boost Blair's mission to Africa.
To get around that, they, through one Bishop Tsele, the Secretary General of the SACC,
invited South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Pahad on the lie that Dr. Shamuyarira
and Minister Chinamasa had been invited and had agreed to attend. The obliging Pahad
came, only to discover there were no human beings, only MDCs! In fact both Chinamasa
and Shamuyarira had not been invited. Not even Zimbabwe's ambassador to that country.
Pahad was left with an egg on his face, and ended up apologizing to the Zimbabwe
Government for the ruse Zimbabweans have known to typify the MDC. This is how bad
things have become for the MDC. It has to con speakers.
Icho! [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TTwplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
**********DISCOUNTED HOTELS & FLIGHTS!!!*************
http://affiliates.travelhero.com/index.cfm/country/NG/city/ABUJA/AID/1837/index.html
++++++++++++++
"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this
world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation
to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget
tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them
over a lifetime."
-- Dale Carnegie
---
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
**********Keep Hope Alive!!!*************
****Internet Solution****
A one stop solution for your web site. It is fully Nigerian, with Hausa, Yoruba and
Ibo Alphabets and so many Nigeria/African resources easy to use and a 24/7 support
access. Why go further when a Nigerian has it right here, try this one you wont go
elsewhere. I ve my signature to it... http://www.africaservice.com
PJ Adamz Abuja Nigeria.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abujaNig/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
% UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
