What’s the fuss about a vacation?

newspapers during this period have scanty news, most of which hurriedly composed without any research. It is the time when hogwash is nicely dressed and packed as news.

During the recent festive season, the media was teeming with such kind of sub-standard news. One such shoddy news item was the superfluous coverage showered on President Mugabe’s traditional annual vacation. While it is undisputed that a mere cough or a step by President Mugabe is newsworthy, there was, however, a sinister agenda setting conspiracy in the coverage of this year’s Presidential sabbatical.

The media scorned the timing of the President’s time off, saying it would slow down the constitution-making process. The media deliberately omitted to tell readers that it was not President Mugabe per se who had taken a break. Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is also on leave with his new wife. His deputy Thokozani Khupe is holidaying in Washington and so is Arthur Mutambara.

There was a thinly veiled attempt to accuse the President of extravagance. A comparison of the two Principals’ holiday destinations would, perhaps assist readers to understand more on profligacy.

President Mugabe visited Asia, a destination that even my uncle, a mere vendor has visited. Mr Tsvangirai visited Monaco, the second smallest country by size in the world after Vatican. Most of the people might not have heard about it because it is just a dot on the world map, with an area of just 198 hectares which is 10-fold smaller than the land that Roy Bennet used to own in Zimbabwe.

On account of its mild climate, splendid scenery and gambling facilities, Monaco is a tourist and recreation centre for the rich and famous. Accommodation rates in a five star hotel range from US$1 000-US$1 500 per night. Contrary to what readers were forced to swallow, the President’s leave does not, in any way, affect the progress of the constitution-making process.

The Cabinet Committee which was tasked to harmonise divergent views on the draft constitution, recently resolved to consult their Principals. Zanu-PF members in that committee know how they will consult their Principal. He is not dead, neither has he cut off communication with his party.

The committee was generously given a Christmas deadline to conclude their negotiations, but did not meet it. The President could not perpetually wait for the committee’s document whose finality was uncertain. He had to go for the well-deserved time off. This must not be misconstrued as a ploy to drag the constitution-making process. In fact, it is the MDC-T that is dragging the process so as to frustrate the March election deadline.

Cde Paul Mangwana has been complaining that his counterparts from the MDC formations were ever absenting themselves from Copac business. The absenteeism is meant to drag the process so as to extend their stay in Government. The MDC formations are the greatest beneficiaries of the GPA.

The civil society, the media and the MDC are calling on the President to come back and solve the perceived constitutional crisis. There are attempts to build a perception that the President misplaced priorities by going for holiday when the country is “on fire”. There is no fire to warrant an early cut of his holiday. If it’s a matter of misplaced priority, how many times has Mr Tsvangirai missed important Cabinet sessions and funerals of national heroes while he visited a diviner in Nigeria and his Western political tutors?

Mr Tsvangirai has reportedly cut his holiday so that he ostensibly deals with the so-called constitutional crisis and prepare for elections. He plucked a leaf from his political shepherd, Barack Obama, who recently abandoned his holiday to deal with his country’s fiscal management crisis. This confirms that the MDC-T leader is a political pawn of the West.

The media and civil society called on the Principals to take a leaf from Obama. There is no crisis that warrants the President to cut such a deserved break. The Principals must not mimic Obama because they are not his tail.

Interestingly, these people now want President Mugabe in the constitution-making process when they recently told the world that the process was the exclusive responsibility of the legislature.

The media and the civil society, especially Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, are hallucinating for they see a constitutional crisis which is not there. They behave as if Zimbabwe has no constitution at all. If there were a constitutional crisis, the inter-party ministerial committee and Copac would not be there.

Zimbabwe is just trying to craft a new constitution with a provision to revert to the old one if the process failed.

When you embark on a journey and you cannot continue maybe because there is a flooded river or something else, the normal thing is to go back where you came from. There is life after the collapse of Copac and elections can still be conducted under the current charter.

It is a grave mistake for MDC-T and its allies to carelessly assume that since President Mugabe is on a month-long leave, he is planning to have elections much later than March 2013.

There is an assumption that upon his return, there would be little time to plan for elections. The proponents of this assumption have taken this as an indication that the call for March election is a farce.