via Call for monitoring and planning commission for Zim Asset | The Herald November 8, 2013
AN independent national monitoring and implementation commission and mobilisation of adequate funding should be established to support Government’s new economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, if set targets and objectives are to be achieved, analysts have said.
A National Planning Commission is one of the special units in the Office of the President and Cabinet that was announced along with the unveiling of the Team Zanu-PF Cabinet recently, though its membership was still to be unveiled.
Zim Asset, Government’s new macro-economic policy that will guide economic development programmes over the next five years until December 2018, is ready for implementation after its endorsement by Cabinet.
The 129-page policy document, which is set to be launched soon, was crafted with emphasis on an empowered society and growing economy.
It was drafted by Government with input from the private sector and other stakeholders and borrows from the winning Zanu-PF manifesto, President Mugabe’s inauguration speech, and the legislative agenda he set for the First Session of the Eighth Parliament.
The blueprint also derives from previous national development programmes.
Analysts said the commission was key for effective implementation of the new medium-term blueprint at a time when the economy was experiencing mild recession against the backdrop of tightening liquidity, worsening current account and trade deficit.
During the planning period, the economy is projected to grow by an average of 7,3 percent over the tenure of the policy.
This year, growth is projected at 3,4 percent, rising to 6,1 percent in 2014 and continuing exponentially to 9,9 percent by 2018.
Considering the fact Zimbabwe has never been short of brilliant economic policies, the general feeling is that to avoid the debilitating effects of inadequate implementation, an independent commission will be critical to oversee full implementation.
An independent planning commission reporting directly to the Office of the President and Cabinet will be key for immediate alarm to be raised once lack of progress and challenges are noted to ensure timely interventions are undertaken.
With crunching liquidity constraints pervading the entire economy after years of battering from the West’s illegal sanctions regime, funding will also be a major factor in determining the extent to which the policy will achieve targets and objectives.
Government’s most recent economic plan under the defunct inclusive Government, the Medium Term Plan, failed to achieve set targets largely due to lack of funding to support programmes espoused in the blueprint.
A summary of sectors that require funding includes infrastructure (US$14,2 billion), US$5 billion for the mining sector, US$2 billion for the manufacturing sector, US$2 billion annually for the agricultural sector, clearance of debt overhang of US$11 billion and US$1,5 billion to bridge current account deficit.
The numbers add up to US$34 billion, excluding other pressing issues such as electricity and food imports.
Analysts said it was important for Government leverage its mineral resources to raise funds from friendly countries.
They noted Zimbabwe cannot adequately raise money through taxes of foreign direct investment, especially in the medium term, considering that foreign direct investments have not yielded positive results in other African countries.
“The goals are very clear, but the instruments to achieve the objectives are silent,” economist Mr Gift Mugano said.
“It is talking of boosting exports, but we don’t know how. The Government needs to engage friendly countries as a matter of urgency to mobilise money and at the same time mending relations with the Western countries.”
Economic analyst Mr Terence Mukupe said Government should ensure there was enough liquidity to oil economic activities in all sectors.
“If you look at all the sectors across the whole economy, the issues people are facing are entirely the same. Whatever you are going to come up with you need liquidity,” he said.
“As such, whether you have good policies or good intentions, if there is no (enough) funding everything that you are going to do is doomed to fail.”
Mr Mukupe pointed out that with Zimbabwe under severe sanctions from the West and not able to obtain offshore funding from all institutions wired to the West, Zimbabwe should consider aggressive liquidity mobilisation from domestic sources.
In addition, Mr Mukupe hailed Zim Asset for its focus on ordinary people, saying Government was spot on in taking note that it was ordinary civilians and informal businesses that sustained the economy through its worst spell.
Most economic analysts said Government should enact laws that promote local procurement and banking of export proceeds to improve liquidity in the economy.
The analysts also emphasised the need to deal with corruption, bureaucracy and bigotry to ensure full implementation of the anchor policy for economic growth.
Other analysts suggested the renewal of the social contract to strengthen social dialogue between Government, labour and business during the implementation of the policy.
COMMENTS
This plan is doomed to failure if it continues to blame the phantom sanctions for its past and future mediocrity.
There is also a need to be honest about the current situation. The country if facing much more then a “mild recession.” It’s facing a fiscal train wreck if Mugabe doesn’t take his thumb out of his arsehole and face the cold hard truth.
Where is the country going to come up with $34Billion? That won’t come from diamonds or forcing foreign investors to give up 51% of their businesses. If anything, those actions are actually causing capital flight – nearly a billion dollars prior to the elections has left the country, and much more will follow.
And any plan that treats electrical energy creation, and dealing with corruption as mere options to eventually address, is doomed from the start.
There was a report recently that nearly 40% of every dollar spent in Zimbabwe was contributing to corruption in some way. How can any economy advance with a 40% handicap? There’s no way to catch up until that issue is thoroughly dealt with as the number one priority of the government. That’s an own goal that can’t be blamed on sanctions, real or imaginary.
And what about electricity? The Harald wines about businesses closing because of the phantom sanctions, but what business can stay competitive with foreign rivals, when there is electrical power to make products only 20-30% of the time? Last week there was an article that implied the ZESA is only able to furnish about 35% of the electricity that the entire country truly needs. Instead of buying new cars for politicians and sending them to VC for spa treatments, use that money to upgrade the power delivery system and create some jobs along the way!
I thought this country was supposed to be smart, but it’s acting really dumb.
Was this posted? It hasn’t shown up yet.
Sorry, meant Victoria Falls, not VC.
Maybe Mogabe’s Team should pray to the God that sent them the White Farmers.
Beg that God to persuade them to refund the wealth that they stole in the form of Crops, and also as wages which were withheld from the poor bare-footed labourers.
Otherwise they should consult the Snake that educated Adam and Eve.
We are dealing with Numbers.
And Numbers NEVER disappear.
Also, corruption is ubiquitous. Sometimes it is so insidious as to appear PIOUS.
The World Economic Federation has convened in Davos Swizerland every year since 1987.
The village has an Airfield for Private Jets but there is no Highway access or Railway service.
Only the very Best and Superlative Hotels are available. The Federation spends $150 Million annually in Davos.
Its purpose is to combat World Poverty.
In 1987 the it was estimated that 71% of the Human Population existed under conditions of abject poverty.
In 2012 that figure rose to 74%.
The amount that the Federation squandered in Davos over a 25-year period could have eliminated the largest Slum Ghetto in Brazil.
The folk in Yorkshire insist that : “Where there’s Muck there’s money !”
An honest situtional analysis is a good starting point. A plan formulated on plausible success factors is not eutopian like the current one. Its not your current strengths alone that should be reflected in a plan. You need to clearly demonstrate how you will deal with the weaknesses. A plan not supported by resources is a laundry list and nothing more.
Why do we enjoy beating the neighbour we have known all our lives until he bleeds to death? Why do we laugh and celebrate as a member of our family we wrapped in plastic paper burns to death? Why do we torture people we have known all our lives and begin to call them the sell-outs, enemies, or terrorists? Why do we become fanatical about political ideas we hardly understand? The answer to all these questions is what we call internalised oppression [racism]. Internalised oppression is so powerful that it turns us into monsters and we often get surprised after we have acted that we could do what we did.
For over 200 years black people were captured, ‘tamed’, chained like beasts to provide labour. Blacks became the energy that moved ships across the oceans, that moved stones, earth and wood on land and that transported water.
We talk of the stone age, the bronze age and iron age and stop there because after that was the slave age that created the industrial revolution. Slavery then became uneconomical because the industrial revolution demanded use of other metals and black labour became the energy that created colonialism. So for another 100 years slave labour was transformed into ‘paid’ labour, but the principle remained the same. So for over 300 years black people looked at themselves as inferior. They accepted that dark skins were ugly, dirty and sub-human; food from Africa was unhealthy; music from Africa was uninteresting; African languages were embarrassing; African clothes were primitive; African huts were uncivilised and that Africans were the lowest class of the human race.
The first stage of our internal injury is acceptance of these negative stereotypes. Where ever you go, whatever you do, you have the painful burden of feeling that you are less human than others.
Robert Mugabe initially falsely “adopted ‘socialism’” but this pattern could not successfully accommodate his internalised oppression. He was helped by the collapse of the Soviet Empire to come in the open. So, from c1990 he openly practised capitalism. He created individuals [army commanders, members of parliament and a limited group of elite academics] to act as his assistants, just like the colonial governments.
Through them, he plundered the country’s resources and sent the wealth to Europe and America. Never in the history of Zimbabwe have so many people been openly gunned down by their elected leader .Never have people’s homes been touched by fellow ‘comrades’. Never have people been thrown in jail without food until they starve to death. Never have people been captured and forced to mine minerals for army commanders. The stories of inhuman treatment of people by the Mugabe Government can only be better told by those that suffered them.
Mugabe’s internalised oppression has left a record of suffering in Zimbabwe which may never be matched by any future Government. After a period of only 30 years, Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in the World.
The Herald opines that “….. Zimbabwe has never been short of brilliant economic policies………..”, yet the country lies 170th out of 189 in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” rankings. Just imagine where another bunch of dough heads dressed up as a National Planning Commission can take us!
There I was, cold, isolated and desperate for something I knew I couldn’t have.A solution. A remedy. Anything….I hated it. Alone and confused was the last place I wanted to be.Somehow I knew I deserved this.I’m sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn’t do, and I’ve hurt myself by hurting you.We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who’s right and who’s wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don’t like about our associates or our society.It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others.Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.
Considering the fact Zimbabwe has never been short of brilliant economic policies. If that was true why have they never implemented at least one, seems they only chose the not so brilliant ones. Unfortunately Mr Gift Mugano and Terence Mukupe appear to know little about reality and economics. Mozambique has huge foreign investment today and the country is a huge success because of it. Mozambicans are in awe how their former rich neighbour could have fallen so far.