Published by the government of Zimbabwe
4 November 2009
Harare — RETIRED senior army officers can lead private institutions after retiring from the force and this cannot be viewed as militarisation of civilian institutions, an American defence attache, Lieutenant- Colonel Patrick Anderson, said yesterday.
Lt-Col Anderson's revelations puts paid to criticism by the MDC-T and Western-backed non-governmental organisations in the country that have been arguing that retired army officers in Zimbabwe were not supposed to lead parastatals and other private companies.
"In America, you are a citizen first and a soldier second. There are engineers, technicians and doctors, among others, in the army.
After serving, say for 20 years, and they decide to be doctors or pursue other areas, nothing will stop them and that is not militarisation of civilian institutions.
"To say this is militarisation of the civilian institutions goes against the ideals that you are a civilian first and a soldier second," said Lt-Col Anderson.
He, however, said that the decisions the former soldiers took while heading civilian institutions were not supposed to be influenced by their loyalty to the army.
Lt-Col Anderson said this while responding to questions from the floor after making a presentation on the role of the military in a democratic society in Harare yesterday.
The US Embassy every week organises a platform where officials speak on various current topics in a programme it calls Food for Thought.
However, by the nature of its operations, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces has produced loyal and patriotic officers with invaluable skills in mechanical and civil engineering, medicine, law, communication technology, accounting and managers among others.
The country benefited immensely from former military officers in all sectors of the economy in the past 10 years when some skilled people were fleeing the country for so-called greener pastures.
Zimbabwe lost scores of professionals trained using taxpayers' money to rich countries such as Britain, America, Canada, Australia as well as to some Sadc countries including South Africa and Botswana.
So deplorable was the situation in some case, to the extent that parastatals such as the National Railways of Zimbabwe ended up engaging retired police and army engineers to service locomotives and vehicles.
Quizzed on other issues, Lt-Col Anderson denied that America had a military base in Botswana or any other part of Southern Africa, adding that it had some soldiers stationed in Djibouti and some North African countries.
"We do not have bases in Botswana or anywhere in Southern Africa.
"We have, however, co-operation with many countries in Africa where we have some stations. In these areas, our soldiers will be doing community work," he said.
Lt-Col Anderson came under pressure from participants who demanded to know why the American government was committing soldiers in some parts of Africa, where African leaders were making efforts to establish regional forces to keep peace.
He has served in the US army for over 20 years.
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Did MDC ever said America is always right. If that was the case MDC wouldn't have ever joined the unity gvt. Its wrong its wrong whether it is being done in America or in UK.
However you also have to look at whether the American soldiers serve the Democrats, the Republicans or the Americans (gvt and people) and also whether Zim soldiers serve and salute Zanu and MDC and every Zimbabwean who holds an office above the soldier in question without regard of where the person is coming from and whether the person is black or white
What a load of idiosy,the pros left because the military ruined the economy ,a Zanugoon is only good at killing and stealing