Harare — OUTGOING US President George W. Bush offered Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono a top job at the World Bank the same week the central bank chief was included on the European Union and US targeted sanctions list.
Dr Gono made the disclosure on Monday at the launch of his book, titled "Zimbabwe's Casino Economy: Extraordinary Measures for Extraordinary Challenges".
The central bank chief further revealed that the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, conveyed the offer.
The offer, he said, had been approved by Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Ironically, the World Bank is on record criticising Dr Gono's economic policies.
In various circles, he is labelled as the "worst" central bank governor for fusing fiscal and monetary policies.
"Just as I was being dragged to the UN Security Council to be put on the sanctions list, I was offered a job by the World Bank as senior vice president," Dr Gono told guests who attended the official launch of the book.
"This was with the full blessings of none other than George W. Bush himself and the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice."
In response to the offer, Dr Gono said he wrote a letter to the World Bank, asking how the bank, controlled by the US and its European allies, would offer him a job when he was on its targeted sanctions list.
Dr Gono said the WB promised it would remove him from the list and "see what to do with his friends already on the sanctions list".
In the book, Dr Gono chronicles his experience as Zimbabwe's central bank governor during his first five-year tenure as well as his private life.
He also touches on issues "never made public" before.
"In my humble book that we are here to launch, I dwell not so much on my personal history, but mainly on shedding light on the deep philosophical drivers that shaped the orientation and conduct of the RBZ's monetary policy programme under my watch over the past five years," he said.
"As I rolled my sleeves to get down to work from 1 December, 2003, I was to be confronted by the sobering realities of our economy degenerating into a literal casino, driven by individual and, in some instances, collective greed, indiscipline, corruption, deceit and general lack of unity of purpose among stakeholders."
He said he conceived the idea of writing the book while on a plane from Morocco, where he had attended a board meeting of the African Development Bank.
Once he had made up his mind, Dr Gono wrote the book in less than 60 days.
The book was published by Zimbabwe Publishing House.
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So I guess his book is a comedy?
A case of frustrated man whose dreams would never amaze anyone. Which world bank is he talking about? Is Gono talking of the world bank in Bulawayo Market?
WELL DONE GONO! You will find your way to the Heroes acre for your contribution to the development of the financial sector in Zimbabwe. You worked hard and Zimbabweans are now Zillionaires. You book is likely to be used as a key text book at the University of Bindura.
This is a shame! What can you expect from The Herald. To display such a level of ignorance is an insult to all Zimbabweans. If you are ignorant and so brainwashed, do not think every one sees the world using zanu(pf)goggles. I think Gono was offered a Bookkeeper position at Bush's cattle ranch in Texas.Thats the only sensible offer for Gono. Bush has nothing to do with the World Bank appointments; he is not part of the structures of the World Bank. Gono just said this to make people see him in a different light during his second re-appointment as The Governor of The Reserve bank of Zanu(PF). What can he offer to the World Bank when, infact, he dismally failed the Zimbabwe economy. I advise you, Gono, to go to Las Vegas with you cassino-economy experience, you wull make a good gambler there. Also Gono talks about the offer to make his stupid book more marketable to fools like the Herald reporters.
I am sure the reporters at Herald confused as they are were even taken aback by such nonsense.
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