ZANU PF’s announced candidate Zondo Sakala is in the running to become the African Development Bank (AfDB) president when incumbent head Donald Kuberuka’s term expires in May, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa announced on Tuesday.
Sakala, who has been the AfDB’s vice president in charge of regional operations, will face eight other candidates for the post and would be the first official from the southern African region – which contributes 15 percent of the bank’s share capital — to hold the post since 1985.
Sakala is very much an AfDB insider, having joined the continental developmental institution 1983 after a stint as Senior Research and Principal Planning Officer in the newly created Ministry of Manpower Planning and Development in newly independent Zimbabwe.
Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni unsuccessfully ran against Kuberuka in 2005.
“Zondo Sakala is our candidate for the presidency of the African Development Bank,” Chinamasa told a press briefing in Harare.
Speaking at the same occasion, Sakala said his ascendancy to head the bank would unlock funding opportunities for the country’s economic blueprint Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset) and help reduce poverty in the SADC region in line with the bank’s mission.
“Being somebody from the region…I’m aware of the key challenges that face our region. I think it will be a golden opportunity to bring in the efforts and the resources of the African Development Bank to our region,” Sakala said.
“Each country has its own priorities. In Zimbabwe we have ZimAsset. We will be looking at how best we can assist the Zimbabwean government and the Zimbabwean people to realize the ambition of ZimAsset.”