Tremont’s word games over killer diplomat fool no ...

Tremont’s word games over killer diplomat fool no one

Monica Cheru

In a show of breath-taking arrogance, US ambassador Pamela Tremont has chosen to avoid responding to questions on the flight of a US diplomat from Zimbabwe within 24 hours after he ran over and killed an 11-year-old girl in Dema.

“Just to be clear, the person who was involved, who was driving the car, despite what has been claimed in the media, did not flee the scene. He actually went to the police when he realised he could not help the girl, reported the accident and then initiated the investigation with them,” Tremont said in a statement.

The ambassador seems to think that Zimbabweans are too stupid to see her prevarications for what they are.

In street lingo “akazvambarara pamusoro pemubvunzo”- trying to obliterate the question with bringing in a lot of non-issues instead of just announcing when the killer diplomat will be returning to Zimbabwe.

Eric Kimpton is believed to have left the scene immediately after running over and killing Ruvarashe Takamhanya, leaving his colleagues to deal with the police and the family.

He then flew out to the US saying he needed counselling and has remained there, a move viewed by many as a way of evading culpability for Ruvarashe’s death.

“He and his colleagues were at the scene for quite a long time after the accident while the police did their investigation,” said Tremont in her statement.

However, this is disputed by Juliana Vito, the dead girl’s mother, who says she arrived at the scene quickly after being alerted by neighbours.

She says the vehicle was no longer there and neither was Kimpton.

Tremont also claims that Kimpton has been taking responsibility for the killing.

“Since then, he has been in constant contact with both the family and the police to further the investigation,” said Tremont in her statement.

This appears to be a bald-faced lie when juxtaposed against the assertion by Ruvarashe’s father that it is embassy emissaries that have been in touch with the family and never the killer diplomat himself.

“I am not demanding much, but the killer should understand that this child had her own dreams. He should come back and say ‘sorry,’” says Silvester Takamhanya.

In her statement, Tremont seems to imply that the US$2 000 paid by the embassy to assist the family with funeral expenses is adequate recompense for their daughter’s death.

“Embassy representatives attended the funeral and helped pay some compensation to help the family deal with funeral expenses,” she dismissively states.

Clearly, the life of a Zimbabwean child is of no great import to the ambassador and she feels that the family should count themselves lucky to have been the beneficiaries of such benevolence from the mighty US.

Tremont also appears to try and evade blame on behalf of Kimpton with a reference to the state of the road in the second sentence of her statement.

“We were really happy to see local authorities put some measures to put speed humps to slow down traffic on that stretch of road,” she says.

Presumably, by implication, we are supposed to infer that if there had been speed humps, Kimpton would not have run over Ruvarashe.

“So…we have helped in every way possible to further the investigation,” Tremont goes on to add insult to injury, essentially telling the grieving family to get lost.

The family is not asking for much, just the return of Kimpton to face due process and say he is sorry that a bright young life was extinguished so suddenly.

If this level of arrogance, disrespect and insensitivity is what she is bringing to the table, then Tremont’s tour of duty is likely to see a regression into cold antipathy between Harare and Washington.

Sadly, this is not the first time that a family has had to watch an American diplomat walk away with impunity after killing a loved one on the roads.

The US had a diplomatic spat with the UK following when Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S diplomat killed British teen Harry Dunn, 19, while driving carelessly in the UK in 2019.

Sacoolas immediately left the UK waving her diplomatic immunity and the US refused to extradite her.

Three years later, in 2022, she appeared for her sentencing by video link on the advice of the US government after pleading guilty to a charge carrying a sentence of up to 5 years in prison or community service.

The fully suspended eight months sentence incensed the British public.

A Dunn family spokesperson expressed disgust at the US government bully in the playground attitude.

"On the face of it, it appears that this is nothing short of a cowardly act on the part on an oppressor," said Radd Seiger.

It is doubtful that Kimpton will ever return to Zimbabwe to say sorry to Ruvarashe’s family. So, Tremont can just stop treating the family and the Zimbabwean public as idiots with her silly word games.

She might as well just step out as the true face of the US government.

A brutal force that only values the lives of citizens of other countries when they have propaganda value.

And can be held up as an excuse to invade and annihilate countless lives in the name of freedom and democracy.

Which are really synonyms for US hegemony and interests.