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ZIMCODD statement on the assumption of duty of Paul Wolfowitz as the President of the World Bank Group
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)
June 01, 2005

The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), a socio-economic justice network of Civil Society Organisations in Zimbabwe, joins the many Global Social Movements in protest against the nomination and confirmation of Mr Paul Wolfowitz, as president of the World Bank Group. Wolfowitz was foreign policy advisor to the president of the United States.

Wolfowitz’s recent past is well known: he is one of the architects of the "pre-emptive" war strategy used in Afghanistan and Iraq beginning in October 2001. We are protesting against the 60-year unwritten agreement allowing only the president of the United States of America to choose the head of the World Bank Group. We note with regret that this is archaic and out of step with standard norms of democratic practice. This has rendered the World Bank a tool for imposing a neo-liberal development and economic model that serves the interests of a few rich governments and rendering the majority of its members powerless.

Zimbabwe, like many other African countries has suffered almost irreparable damages at the hands of the World Bank and IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programs.

On this first day of June 2005, Wolfowitz assumes office as the president of the World Bank Group reaffirming the unnecessary continued existence of the Bank. We find it appropriate to remind Wolfowitz of the following:

We still call for democracy and accountability in the day to day decision making processes at the International Financial Institutions

We call for the Bank to stop the imposition of rules and conditionalities that prioritize foreign investment and market liberalisation so as to allow debtor to choose their own economic systems and development models.

We demand unconditional cancellation of all illegitimate and odious debts owed to the World Bank, IMF and other creditors.

We demand Financial Independence and freedom from the dictates of the Bank and the IMF.

Visit the ZIMCODD fact sheet

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