President Joyce Banda is not an economist. She also has never managed anything that gave her knowledge or experience of economics.
This inadequacy in economics, notwithstanding, Joyce Banda has been making bold economic predictions in the manner her spiritual leader TB Joshua predicts deaths of people.
According to the prophesy of Joyce Banda, the economy was going to recover within 18 months. What has been interesting is that the starting point for counting the 18 months has always been changing like name of the University she attended and the degree she obtained.
One time the 18 months was supposed to start immediately after the decision was made to devalue the currency and float it. The other day the counting was supposed to start upon the unveiling of the Economic Recovery Plan which happened about three to four months after the devaluation decision was taken. Today almost 8 months after she took office, President Joyce Banda says the economy will recover in 18 months.
Now which 18 months is the one? Because if the counting started when the devaluation was decided, almost seven months have already elapsed, meaning only eleven months are remaining. If the counting started with the economic recovery plan, then four months have elapsed and fourteen months are remaining. When Madam President suggests that actually the 18 months start now, then confusion creeps in. It is either the 18 months do not exist and it is just a smokescreen or the President simply does not know what she is talking about.
When the other day she prematurely announced a devaluation while visiting South Africa just days after her ascendency to the President, the check mate on her loose mouth came from a woman she had just appointed as one of the deputy governors of the Reserve Bank. Bluntly Dr Naomi Ngwira said technical issues were better left to technicians to handle.
So when one day President Banda advised her critics that economics must be left to experts to discuss, it would be safe to assume that the cordon was being built to keep even her off the expert domain.
This seems a sensible notion to embrace because when her predictions were checked with an expert, Goodall Gondwe dismissed them almost as senseless.
“Who said the economy would recover in 18 months?” This question from Goodall must not be taken lightly. He is a cabinet minister responsible for the economic recovery. Meaning that if there were dates or months within which the economy would recover, he should be the first to know. The fact that the 18 months prophesy by Joyce Banda is unknown to the implementing minister means it does not exist. Being a diplomat that he is, Goodall was just being polite not to just say the President lies every time she talks about the economy recovering in 18 months.
“Where is that written?” Goodall is bringing out another pointer that if the 18 months existed, it should have been documented somewhere, notably in his ministry. But according to him, “That is not true. The 18 months doesn’t exist. No one has said the economy will recover in 18 months.”
To speak like that either Goodal was really unaware that President Banda has been talking about 18 months, or he knows she talks about it, he has spoken to her to stop, he is fed up hearing her talking about it, and he wants to expose her as a liar hoping that the embarrassment would seal her mouth.
Whatever that case, Goodall must be commended for putting the matter straight: there is no time line within which the economy will recover. The time is open ended.
And if the minister in charge does not want to commit to a time frame, the message is: buckle up because the rough ride is on for an unforeseeable future.
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