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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda yesterday rapped Canada and its Western allies for imposing illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, saying it was time they reviewed the sanctions since their intended regime change agenda has dismally failed.
Adv Mudenda said Canada and its allies should have valued the principle of dialogue to iron out any perceived differences than to adopt a hostile approach through the imposition of sanctions.
He said this during a meeting with a visiting delegation of Canadian legislators led by Mr Robert Oliphant, who is a Member of Parliament from the Liberal Party.
The delegation to Adv Mudenda’s offices was accompanied by Canada’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Kumar Gupta.
“These sanctions must go, perhaps they were meant to create regime change, but this has failed,” he said.
“We have a legitimate Government here.
“No Government is perfect anywhere in the world. I was watching international news this morning, where I saw protests against corruption in Russia, United States has its own issues and nobody is imposing sanctions against these countries.”
Adv Mudenda said Canada should use its influence to explain to its allies on the futility of the embargo against Harare.
“Canada is a very influential country in the geopolitics globally,” he said.
“Your influence in the G8, G20 groups is tremendous, let’s go for dialogues.
“If there are issues let us discuss. The sanctions have not been helpful. I know some say they are targeted, but some banks have been failing to access lines of credit. What it means is that the country is constricted to get foreign funding.
“Let us fix what needs to fixed and normalcy will be achieved.”
In his response, Mr Oliphant said they had a lot to learn from Zimbabwe given that it had a new Constitution.
Canada imposed illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe to protest what it called State-sponsored violence and intimidation.
It also imposed a ban on arms export to Harare and freezing the assets of top Zimbabwean officials.
It also banned Zimbabwean aircraft from flying over or landing in Canada.
Canada joined the European Union that imposed illegal sanction on Zimbabwe in sympathy with Britain after Government embarked on the land reform programme aimed at correcting land imbalances.
Huge tracts of land were in the hands of minority whites, while the majority blacks were crowded in unproductive lands.
Online Reporter