The 2016 Zimbabwe cabinet score card-There seemed to be some competition about who could ruin the economy most

Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Finance
Rating: C

Grading Chinamasa is tough, just as his job was in 2016. He just can’t win, whatever he does.

His effort to reengage with international capital was resisted by an unlikely alliance of interests; opposition activists and Zanu PF hardliners.

When he tried to cut the wage bill, he was shot down in public. Mushohwe was sent to release a statement denying government had approved Chinamasa’s measures, which would have saved the taxpayer $232 million per month.

His often frank assessments of the state of the economy must have isolated him from his colleagues, who prefer self-delusion. Perhaps this is why, at the Zanu PF conference, he made a comical attempt to join the gang by claiming that “the economy is on the right track”.

For at least being honest, most of the time, even when he clearly was out of ideas and up against everyone, he ranks lowly on the ruin-the-economy rankings.

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