Zimbabwe Parliament plans to send delegation to US to lobby Biden to lift sanctions 

I will give you striking examples where for instance, Congress blocked the rational foreign policy decisions by its President and on the other hand, instances where Congress supported irrational foreign policy decisions by the President of the United States. In doing so, I wish to bring this House to the understanding that the decision to impose ZIDDERA by the U.S. Government may have been arrived at through an irrational foreign policy decision making process by the United States Congress.

I will give you one striking example during the presidency of Bill Clinton where the President faced congressional defiance when he proposed the need for the U. S. to pay its dues to the United Nations and when he proposed the lifting of sanctions against the Republic of Palestine which he thought no longer accept U. S. interest and also in 1993, when he made a rational decision to send troops into Bosnia to enforce low prime zone and support NATO Operations sponsored under the United Nations. In Bosnia, U. S. troops operated on a multilateral neutral force and Clinton’s rational decision was stopped by Congress in a clear show of irrationality of the U. S. Foreign Policy.

There were also instances where the Congress supported irrational decisions by the President of the United States especially during the presidency of President George Bush. It is during this presidency that the United States…

HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir. I believe the 20 minutes allocated to the Hon. Member has elapsed.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, Order! Hon. Member, this will be the second time that you are being advised again to be educated. – [Laughter.] – The mover of a motion has no limit. This is not from me but from the Standing Orders. So I encourage you to revise your Standing Orders accordingly. Hon. Dr. Mutodi, you can proceed.

HON. DR. MUTODI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I was indicating that during the presidency of President George Bush, we witnessed so many irrational decisions by the U. S. Government such as the invasion of Iraq where President Saddam Hussein was eventually assassinated under the claim of holding to weapons of mass destruction which later proved to be false. It is also under the same period that Zimbabwe was imposed or slapped with the illegal sanctions just because there was overwhelming support for the U. S. President in his foreign policy. It is clear that the foreign policy was baseless and based on unfounded facts which need to be fought by this Parliament.

Mr. Speaker Sir, having unpacked the irrationality of the U.S. foreign policy and having suggested that the ZEDERA was passed during a period of overwhelming presidential concurrence during President W. Bush’s administration, I am proposing that this House send a delegation to the United States of American to present a briefing paper to His Excellency the President of the United States of America and to Congress on the need for the U. S. Government to consider the repeal of ZIDERA and start a process of engagement and political and economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of both countries.

During the year 2023, I presented a briefing paper at the School of Government at the University of Birmingham on the Zimbabwe sanctions. It is this briefing paper that can be modified and panel beaten by this Parliament and then presented before the United States of America Congress and the President.

Continued next page

(106 VIEWS)