The announcement of
a Cabinet reshuffle by President Mugabe could not have come at a better time
given the current policy discordances and attendant administrative logjams that
have almost paralysed Government business as some ministers had lost focus due
to laziness or pursuance of peripheral matters that are divorced from their
core duty of serving the nation.
Personal differences and discord between Cabinet ministers
is sending highly misleading and damaging signals to potential investors and
other supporting stakeholders, forcing them to shun the Zimbabwean market or
sit on the fence, waiting for the dust to settle between peers in Government.
To the expectant electorate who see a brighter future in the consummation of
the Zim-Asset programme, the Cabinet dissonance presents a portentous hurdle
that could derail the objectives of the people-centred economic blueprint. With
some ministers reportedly on each other’s throats daily, chances of effectively
fulfilling Zim-Asset objectives are heavily dented.
Other well thought out Government programmes such as Command
Agriculture and Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
programmes have become so politically contested and demonised by rival
politicians, thus dimming the glimmer of hope they carry. The tussling between
rival Cabinet members is easily playing into the hands of detractors, who are
always gleefully waiting for every opportunity to cast aspersions on the
country’s image and concomitantly push for regime change.
The situation has been worsened by lazy Cabinet ministers
who bunk question-and-answer sessions in Parliament. These truant ministers
have disrupted Parliament business, leaving legislators with queries from their
constituencies in the lurch. During the official opening of the 5th Session of
the 8th Parliament, President Mugabe bemoaned the failure by some ministers to
attend Parliament and subsequently censured them, saying their demeanour was in
blatant breach of certain codes of Parliament.
Against such a worrying backdrop, the announcement of a
Cabinet reshuffle became a masterstroke that would eliminate friction between
Cabinet ministers and also cleanse Government of some indolent and
under-performing officials. It was assuring to hear President Mugabe announcing
during the ZANU-PF Youth League national assembly in Harare on Saturday that he
would reconfigure his Cabinet.
He told delegates that, “. . .But we must also look at
ourselves and say to ourselves, ‘Well, have we, all of us, cooperated together
or are there some among us who, although they were given positions, and
although they are good members of the party, but have not done well? And also
in Government per se; although we appointed people to certain positions, did
they live up to the calling of those positions? Tinotarisa kuparty, zvimwe
chetezvo totarisa kuhurumende zviwe chetezvo and next week, there might be some
changes in Government.”
The reconfiguration would be a dose of medicine required to
cure the squabbling between bureaucrats and redirect their energy towards the
fulfilment of the Zim-Asset programme. It would also be a friendly nudge on
those newly drafted into Cabinet and the surviving ministers to pull in the
same direction for the betterment of the country.
The reshuffle is also a welcome move that would send a
reverberating message that the President is fully in control of all Government
levers. Contrary to claims by naysayers, the President is fully behind the
wheel and would do everything to keep the country on track. Those drafted into
the new Cabinet would be alive to the fact that any lackadaisical approach to
work would attract a penalty from the ever-vigilant President. With the country
hurtling closer to the 2018 elections, the non-performing ministers would have
become excess baggage to ZANU-PF.
Cutting them loose would allow the party to renew its
commitment to fulfil its electoral pledges and also vastly improve its chances
of retaining power in the forthcoming plebiscite. Those to be drafted into the
new Cabinet are expected to repay the President by keeping their eyes on
national goals whilst shunning sectorial sideshows. This would enable them to
keep on track and take the country to greater heights.
The new team should similarly work extra hard to send the
right signals to would-be investors and all other stakeholders who want to partner
Government in rebuilding the economy. Ministers to the new Cabinet should also
ensure that their loyalty is solely to their appointing authority, who is none
other than President Mugabe. They should subordinate themselves to him and not
to any factional or other peripheral dictates.
0 comments:
Post a Comment