By Correspondent
For the umpteenth time there was a tour of the Pomona Waste-to-Energy site and for the umpteenth there was nothing but dust, garbage and maps to see.
A bunch of Ministers was corralled and made to deliver euphoric statements hailing the bare ground as ground-breaking for Harare and the country.
It was a gimmick to reinforce and pronounce Government’s adamant resolution to go ahead with the project against every other sane advice.
It was a statement by the ruling ZANU PF that they remain the central authority, and CCC only controls the local authority.
Local Government Minister Marian Chombo recently revealed that Government has paid the money which Harare Council refused to pay.
“Although this project was between Geogenix and the City of Harare, the Zimbabwe Government is also in it.
“So far, we have met our contractual agreement with Geogenix. We might be behind (with payments) but we’ve made sure all payments are done,” she said.
The debt, since the agreement, had accumulated to around US$870 000.
In paying the humongous amount, for literally nothing, the ruling ZANU PF has thrown out the rule book of democracy as it is now operating unilaterally.
Residents and their representatives at Harare Council said they could and would not pay the huge figure.
After all, it’s a shady figure which cannot be substantiated or supported by anything on the ground.
Pomona remains as it was before, a wasteland of waste.
The Albanian company, registered in Holland, and fronted by a Zimbabwean, has done next to nothing at the site.
All that has been happening, has been occurring in the media and statement, not on the ground.
On the ground the more than 500 families who thrived on the garbage are still there, worried about the developments but still there.
Away from the media Geogenix Waste-to-Energy remains a media contrivance with nothing going on.
Government has announced plans to relocate the 512 families at the dumpsite but that again remains a plan.
Nothing is happening on the ground.
The relative absence of any serious practical action towards the implementation of the project underscores the fictional and corrupt nature of the project.
Instead of Council, party to the agreement, it has been the ZANU PF Government that has been fretting and fidgeting about the agreement.
Now government has decided to pay Geogenix directly, all against the position of both residents and Harare Council, a potentially dangerous legal decision.
As the year comes to an end the Pomona project remains an enigma whose authenticity is doubtful and whose veracity as a positive project remains questionable.