Source: The devil has always been in the implementation – DailyNews Live
STAFF WRITER 13 December 2017
HARARE – Finance and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa has
been on the lips of many after unveiling a 2018 National Budget last week
that broke with the ruling party’s tradition.
With President Emmerson Mnangagwa having set the tone in his inaugural
speech of November 24 by reaching out to all those who wish to be part of
Zimbabwe’s economic development agenda, Chinamasa did not disappoint.
He delivered what probably ranks among the most progressive national
budgets ever presented in the National Assembly since independence in
1980.
Chinamasa has undone most of the previous regime’s obnoxious policies and
practices by taking the country on a new development path.
Among the many refreshing things in his budget, he relaxed the
indigenisation law and promised far-reaching parastatal reforms.
He also tightened the screws on government expenditure to curb the budget
deficit, whose financing has caused havoc in the national economy.
In due course, there shall be staff rationalisation in the civil service,
with those beyond their retirement age being asked to pave way for new
blood.
On paper, Chinamasa’s budget represents a new approach to Zanu PF’s way of
doing things but has the leopard really changed its spots?
Few believe it has because nothing has really changed except for the
cosmetic change of guard at State House. It is still the same faces that
were complicit in the destruction of the country’s economy making up the
bulwark of Mnangagwa’s Cabinet.
Looking at the economic policies that have been introduced in Zimbabwe
before, one finds it difficult to fish out one thing that has not be
suggested in previous blueprints such as the Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic
Transformation, Zimprest and many others.
Nonetheless, Mnangagwa and his team deserve the benefit of the doubt. The
test they must pass is that of turning their dreams into reality by
implementing policies outlined in their blueprints because the devil has
always been in the implementation of government policies.
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