Senior CIO Officers Get US$350 000 Housing Loans

The Zimbabwean government has reportedly given senior Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) directors US$350 000 housing loans each, according to The News Hawks.

An unnamed source was cited as saying that District Intelligence Officers will also be given backdated allowances. The source is quoted as saying:

There is a windfall for CIO. Senior directors who are regarded as deputy ministerial level are getting US$350 000 as housing allowances. District Intelligence Officers and above will get ZW$3 000 000, while those below have been given ZW$1 000 000 backdated allowances.

Besides that, an internal confidential circular has been written, saying no one is resigning. The memo basically says even those who have reached retirement can stay on until further notice.

This is a desperate bid to stop officers from quitting as they have been doing due to poor conditions of service. It’s also about elections.

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The development comes barely months after reports that the cash-strapped government had given ministers US$500 000 and deputy ministers US$350 000 in housing allowances.

Members of Parliament were also allocated US$40 000 each in November last year, sparking a major outcry, especially against opposition MPs who were accused of joining the gravy train.

The loans totalled US$14 million for all 350 legislators.

Also late last year, the government began installing solar panels at the homes of more than 100 government officials, commissioners and service chiefs at the cost of US$14 000 per unit to cushion them from rolling nationwide power cuts lasting up to 18 hours.

Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa, said ministers’ loans were not budgeted for while MPs’ allowances were budgeted for.

Besides the US$40 000, MPs also got US$50 000 for cars, instead of US$80 000 which means there is “a balance of US$30 000.”

Analysts believe the loans are a strategy by the ruling ZANU PF to influence the outcome of the national elections scheduled for this year.

For decades now, ZANU PF has been accused of using state security forces to retain power by intimidating the electorate or manipulating the electoral processes. 

The CIO and other security forces have agents in the whole electoral process, including at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), where the secretariat is headed by Utloile Silaigwana a former army officer. He took over as chief elections officer from the late Lovemore Sekeramayi, a former top CIO officer.

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