MDC-T Vice President Nelson Chamisa says he was wrongly quoted last week when he told an MDC Alliance rally in Mutare, that United States Of America President, Donald Trump, had promised a whooping US$billion bailout, in the event that the Alliance wins the next election.
The US government has since denied making the $15 billion pledge, saying it was ready to work with the government of the day elected by Zimbabweans in free and fair conditions.
Addressing party and alliance supporters in Chitungwiza on Sunday, Chamisa said contrary to what has been attributed to him, he never said the US government will bankroll the Alliance, but a lot of “friends” were waiting to help in rebuilding the nation, only if the MDC-Alliance wins.
“Last week i was misquoted by a number of people (on the US$15 billion claim). We did a report and we realized that we need about $US14.9 billion which we rounded off to US$15 billion, for the country to have proper infrastructure. That is what people did not fully understand.
“We found out that our infrastructure needs that amount of money which will be used , mainly, in repairing roads. That money will only come if we look for friends and add them to the ones we have.
“We have friends who help us in times of need and those are the ones who will help us to raise that money after we win the elections,”said Chamisa.
In his last week’s address in Mutare, Chamisa said “When we met with President Trump in America alongside Biti, he asked us how much we needed to move the country forward and we told him that we needed $15 billion.”
This was in reference to the visit by some of the Alliance principals ,led by Chamisa, to the US Senate , where they allegedly asked Washington to withhold any financial aid to Harare until the country holds free, fair and credible elections.
Consequently ,the MDC Alliance was on Wednesday reportedly forced to apologize to the United States government over the claims.
Meanwhile, one of the leading principals in the MDC Alliance, Tendai Biti has told the same gathering that once elected into power, the Alliance will create a US$100 billion economy in 10 years at a rate of 7% per annum.
He said the Alliance, made of seven political parties, will create millions of jobs.
“Our agenda (as the MDC Alliance) is to grow the economy. We did our research and realized that we can grow the economy consistently at a rate of 7% per annum which means that after 10 years ,our economy would have grown to a $100 billion.
“This therefore means that we can create millions and millions of jobs.We can manage this because we have confidence and trust in our friends , who reciprocally, have the same trust for the Morgan Tsvangirai led government,” said Biti who has been tasked with handling the financial affairs of the Alliance.
The MDC Alliance is currently conducting nationwide rallies ,without its leading principal, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is reportedly recovering from cancer of the colon in South Africa.
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