Gideon Gono is Not Disappointing Me

I have just started reading former Zimbabwe central banker Gideon Gordon's book, Zimababwe's Casino Economy. It is meeting my expectations.

So far I have learned, he has four children, Passion, Prince, Pride and Praise.

He has an undergraduate correspondence degree from Rapid Results College and in the book, he slams critics of his honorary PhD degree from the University of Zimbabwe:

This honour has been a source of needless controversy thanks to the shenanigans of some self indulgent quarters, some of them included people who pretended to be very close to me and who thought I did not know what they were saying behind my back and who wrongly, if not maliciously, claimed the honorary degree was bestowed upon me allegedly because I could not earn one on merit. There were even sinister suggestions at the time that I had engineered the process of the award myself by abusing my position as Chairman of the University Council. This was of course an insult not only to the professional integrity of the members of the University Council but also to the academic community, both groups that are known for their fierce independence and record of scrutiny when it comes to awards that their own endorsement and reputation.

In a Krugman-would-be-proud fashion, Gono informs in the book that toward the end of his reign as head of the central bank, inflation hit 231 million percent annually. He writes:

I began to ask myself: "With Zimbabwe inflation having soared to 231 million percent and that of  the U.S, standing at a mere 2.6%, does it mean in general that USA residents are psychologically and materially happier, better off and more secure than most Zimbabweans? 

As for critics who have charged that he was too close to Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. Gono defends himself this way:

Anyone who has read  Alan Greenspan's The Age of Turbulence would know how close Greenspan was to a succession of American President's particularly, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W.H. Bush, Bill Clinton and [...] George W. Bush. Perhaps even more telling from reading the book is the closeness that Greenspan had with leading politicians in the Republican Party in the United States before, during and after serving as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Damn right, Gono!

-RW