Source: Mudenda raps Govt bureaucracy | The Herald July 4, 2016
Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
National Assembly Speaker Advocate Jacob Mudenda has rapped excessive bureaucracy in Government saying it was inhibiting investment in the country. He made the remarks at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Congress in Victoria Falls last week, as he implored business to petition Parliament for the repeal of legislation that stood in the way of economic transformation.
Adv Mudenda said while Government had identified excessive bureaucracy as anti-investment for about three years, it was disheartening that a lot still needed to be done for the country to facilitate both local and foreign investment that would result in economic development.
“Even if we put the law in place and the bureaucracy does not act with passion, then such laws may be useless,” said Adv Mudenda. “So we need a change of mindset in the bureaucracy. His Excellency, the President in 2015 came to Parliament for State of the Nation Address and said ‘By the 31st of December 2015, the One-Stop Shop Investment Centre must be in place’.
“But it is not there up to now and we are in June. The One-Stop Shop Investment Centre is the gateway to investment in Zimbabwe. If it is not there, how do you promote commerce and industry in our country? Our bureaucracy needs to be more pro-active.”
Adv Mudenda said Parliament was ready to consider legislation that would facilitate establishment of the One-Stop Shop Investment Centre.
He said business was allowed to identify and petition Parliament on legislation that inhibited economic transformation so that they could be repealed.
Adv Mudenda said it was disheartening that Zimbabwe was number 155 out of 189 countries on the World Bank’s ranking of the Ease of Doing Business Index.
“Parliament is expecting the launch of the One-Stop Shop Investment Centre. That is our expectation. Our appetite is there.
“We can work overtime when you give us those several pieces of legislation that will make it easy to establish that One-Stop Investment Centre.
“This will go a long way in simplifying and reducing prolonged procedures and the number of days required to process investment applications for both domestic and foreign investors.
“Our vision as Parliament through the legislative process, we want to be in the top 20. Our turnaround of investment applications should not be more than three days,” said Adv Mudenda.
He said other African countries such as Rwanda that came out of 1994 genocide had One-Stop Shop Investment Centre that saw them process investment applications within 24 hours.
Adv Mudenda said Cuba had also managed to bust the sanctions imposed on it by the West because of tourism and exportation of human capital.
To that end, he said Zimbabwe must explore the possibility of exporting its human capital particularly in the medical field where some of them could not be absorbed into the system.
COMMENTS
humpty dumpty is talking out of his fat a’hole about a one stop shop for investors who will never invest in zanu,the country is bankrupt and the Mugabe’s have packed their bags ready to do a runner.