The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion, Paddy Zhanda, told legislators that $553 million worth of contracts had been awarded to foreign firms, most of them Chinese.

Zhanda said this was "unfair" at a time when Zimbabwe has very high unemployment, and called on Finance Minister Tendai Biti to "stop this bleeding". But economist John Robertson said Zhanda's comments were "unfair" and took a different view.

He agreed that in principle local firms should compete for tenders, but he said that most of the skilled workforce has left the country and ZANU PF policies have destroyed the country's capacity to compete against foreign firms, who have more resources.

"I think Zhanda is being critical for a political reason. ZANU PF members of government are constantly trying to find ways of criticizing MDC members for whatever they have done or failed to do" Robertson said.

Back in 2008 some observers predicted that Mugabe would assign the Finance portfolio to the MDC, knowing it would be almost impossible to resuscitate the country's economy.

One observer wrote at the time: "Permitting ill-equipped opposition leaders to assume positions of responsibility is also a way of ensuring they will stumble and fall, especially when assigned near-impossible tasks."

Robertson said the MDC has been given the most difficult portfolio within government and this gives ZANU PF ample opportunity to be critical.

He also found a contradiction in Zhanda's call for a reduction in foreign business contracts, because as the chairperson of the portfolio committee on Investment Promotion, he should be calling for more foreign investment in the country.

By SW radio