Bonding along the way

04 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
Bonding along the way Donald Trump

The Sunday News

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

ONE of the biggest shock to happen on the political scene this year was the victory of Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton to clinch the right to be the next president of the United States of America.

No one gave Trump a chance; newspapers, pollsters and most of the armchair critics were not just predicting a victory for Clinton, they were predicting a landslide victory.

It was reported that a leading media organisation had to recall 125 000 copies of its publications which they had written dedicating Clinton as the next President of the USA.

Even some of the elitist Americans took to the street protesting the elections results.

They were asking themselves how did this come about but it later downed on them that no matter their sentiments, Trump will be occupying the White House next month.

Such is life, there are a lot of people who think they are enlightened more than others and only their views are correct.

When they are proven wrong that is when they release that the world is bigger and more complex than their egos.

Trump’s victory can be equated to the Zimbabwe bond notes. Since the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced that it will introduce the notes in May, there have been a lot of noise around the move.

Opposition parties and other groups, all of a sudden came to life, criticising the notes.

There have been countless demonstrations over the issue of bond notes.

However, Government stuck to its guns and went ahead and introduced the bond notes on Monday last week.

For the armchair critics, even though the Government had gone ahead and introduced the notes, they thought the market will reject the notes.

They just thought the majority of the people will naturally reject the notes and deal a big blow to the Government.

In social media circles a lot of jokes were circulated around the notes.

Even the money changers were said to be up and running waiting to deal with the notes.

Some who retired from the business were said to be coming out to reclaim their place in the sun.

A lot of exchange rates flew around and according to some, there was no way the bond notes were going to hold fort even for a week.

Some pictures, whether true or false, started circulating on social media showing some service providers purported to have started pegging prices using a dual pricing system. One for the bond notes and the other for the US dollar.

But a week after the introduction of the bond notes, it seems the bond move has really surprised even those who wanted to see it fall.

Ordinary Zimbabweans, like those Americans who voted for Trump against even the imagination of the many people, have somehow embraced the use of the notes and have freely transacted with them.

I am sure this has left a lot of these critics and demonstrators wondering what is really going on.

Even the street money changers who were rubbing their hands in anticipation of quick business must be wondering what really happened.

Maybe some will have to retire for the second time before even starting work.

Most shops are readily accepting the notes.

The vendors are accepting the notes, in fact almost every business is accepting the bond notes at the prescribed rates which was set by the Government.

This must be a wakeup call to all those who were against the bond notes.

It is time never to take people for granted. It is also stupid to think that because we are enlightened and we can write or incite people to revolt, then it means we know what the people want.

Also, it does not mean having a smart phone and coming up and distributing all sorts of hate message, is the most effective way to revolt.

The acceptance of bond notes so far is a clear message of what people out there want.

Their immediate need is to have some form of medium to allow them to go about their business. If the bond can buy them the bread, then let it be.

While the bond success story so far is worth noting, it is also prudent for the Government to meet its end of the stick.

The bond notes are an export incentive which is backed by $200 million facility from international financial institutions.

In layman’s language, it means that Government has the $200 million but because it has discovered that people were siphoning hard currencies out of the country, then they had to come up with a mechanism to allow the money to circulate locally.

In fact what it means is that through the bond and the increased expenditure, the $200 million is somehow used to fuel the local economy.

However, our country’s manufacturing sector is still relatively weak and we still need to import some of the commodities.

This is where the Government needs to tread carefully to ensure that they do not reverse the confidence that people had gained in the use of the bond.

Like alluded before, what most people want is to have something to transact with but they also need the goods to be available.

Government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in general must ensure that key sectors of the economy are never starved of the foreign currency to buy those commodities that are not locally produced like fuel.

Just a little bit of complacence can reverse the gains of the bond notes.

As long as people have their bond notes and get into the shop to buy then its fine. As long as they have their bond notes and they can drive to a fuel station and refuel their cars its fine.

This means that Government must ensure that key sectors are well provided for when they now need to exchange the bond notes for hard currencies to allow them to replenish their stocks.

In addition, Government also need to address the situation in banks, people cannot spend whole day queuing for money.

However, on the issue of bond notes, as long as the Government keeps its promise, then the notes will be a masterstroke that will shock the world even more than Trump’s victory.

 

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