Source: It’s never too late to do right – DailyNews Live
9 October 2017
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe told members of his party’s youth league
on Saturday that they should expect to see Cabinet changes in the coming
days as he seeks to foster a sense of unity of purpose amongst his
wrangling lieutenants.
The current Cabinet probably ranks as the worst since Zanu PF assumed
power more than 37 years ago. Despite being the largest of all previous
Cabinets, the numbers have not translated into anything fruitful for the
generality of Zimbabweans who are living under extremely difficult
conditions.
Effective administrations are usually lean to eliminate bureaucratic sloth
and avoid overlapping functions that create unnecessary confusion in the
execution of government business.
As he restructures his Cabinet, one hopes that Mugabe has learnt that too
many cooks spoil the broth and that he needs to go beyond balancing tribal
and regional interests to get the job done. He must also get rid of the
dead wood that owes its existence in Cabinet to patronage and sickening
bootlicking.
For the past three decades, government has failed dismally to move the
country’s economy forward. Its populist policies have destroyed the
productive sectors of the economy while creating laziness and an unhealthy
appetite for consumptive spending.
There is no better way to illustrate this than taking a look at the
current bloated Cabinet, which is not commensurate with the size of
Zimbabwe’s economy. It comprises 24 ministers, their deputies, permanent
secretaries and directors who earn jaw-dropping salaries and other perks
that include government houses, top-of-the-range vehicles, holiday
allowances, school fees for their children, 24/7 security, among other
featherbeddings.
Most of these ministries are in the social cluster and treasury has to
squeeze the taxpayer to fund them. There are other ministries that should
really operate as departments such as that of Psychomotor. Some of them,
such as the two ministries of education, must be merged.
The ministry of lands should be incorporated into agriculture, while the
ministry of industry and commerce must preside over small to medium size
enterprises. It is also wasteful to separate the ministries of Environment
from that of Tourism and to have Provincial Affairs ministers.
Our fear is, however, that factional considerations might influence the
looming Cabinet reshuffle in order to punish Vice President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s sympathisers while rewarding hopeless praise-singers, some of
whom cannot even spell their names correctly.
To alleviate the plight of the suffering Zimbabweans, we deserve Cabinet
ministers who work like horses.
It is never too late to do the right thing, Cde president!
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