The Sunday Mail
Dr Gift Mugano
President (ED) Mnangagwa’s ascendency to power has brought hopes to Zimbabweans whose dreams were shattered under the old dispensation.
Zimbabweans, over the years, have suffered from the ills of poor economic management and political instability.
These two evils have torn apart the once economic powerhouse into a helpless state which has seen inter-alia massive capital flight and disinvestments, deindustrialisation, isolation, massive exodus of Zimbabweans to various regional and global destinations as both economic migrants and refugees, high unemployment and pervasive levels of poverty. I can go on and on.
The arrival of President Mnangagwa as our President is synonymous with the biblical Joshua who took the children of Israel to the promised land — Canaan.
His Excellency, as God sent, clearly knows what was going wrong and what needs to be done. His mantra, that is, Zimbabwe is open for business, is clearly a motto which seeks to build the foundation and necessary institutional framework for creating a conducive environment for attracting foreign direct investments, upscale domestic investments, re-engage Zimbabwe with the rest of the world, create jobs and bring back Zimbabweans from the rest of the world to take charge of their economy.
Rightly so, ED from his inaugural speech has preached the desire to come up with good political environment where every individual exercise his or her constitutional right to express himself/herself and have political tolerance and guarantee free and fair elections; aggressive international engagement; and development of sound economic policies, eradicate the ills of yesterday such inefficiencies in civil service, corruption and reversal of draconian policies such as the indigenisation and empowerment and other protectionist policies.
To date, we have seen implementation of the Zimbabwe is open to business mantra and as a result the following observations/facts were noted:
(1) Improvement in international relations with countries mainly from the European Union and the United States of America, Australia, Botswana, and Canada which under the previous regime showcased a dog and cat relationship;
(2) Massive enquiries on investments and subsequent undertakings which have been done at various platforms, that is, bilaterally through the joint commissions agreements and direct investments. To date, Zimbabwe, has staggering $3 billion investment deals which are both committed, and some are under discussion;
(3) Massive improvements in the political climate. We are just 4 months from elections, but the general environment is quiet and encouraging. During the yester-years, we could be in the midst of intimidation and all sorts of harassment. What is even sweet music to my ears is that ED has scheduled a meeting with all political parties with a view of coming up with a framework which will be used to guarantee free and fair elections.
To buttress this, ED has already invited players who were initially shunned by the old regime such as the European Union, United Nations and other nations who are interested to observe our elections to come and participate in the election process.
(4) From the economic front, we have noticed stabilisation of the economy. Before the new dispensation, the economy was on a free fall to the fact that is the voice of God which is the voice of people had not spoken we could have crushed by now. Yes, we are still sick, and we are bed ridden but we are not in intensive care unit.
ED has taken us this far. We are still on our way to Canaan. What is important to take home is that in as much as the children of Israel finally reached the promised land, they supported Joshua all the way. It was not Joshua work alone but a collective effort. It is on this note that I am inviting all Zimbabweans to support ED to take us to Canaan.
For example, on the upcoming meeting of ED and the political parties, it is important that all parties attend regardless of the place of the meeting and the title which ED will be bringing to the meeting.
In the same meeting, through dialogue, political parties must agree the road map to elections which guarantee free and fair elections.
We are coming from behind because we lost a great deal of time under the old dispensation and as such we have to minimum cheap politics and focus on economic transformation of our great country. This time around as ED always say we should always think, eat and dream economics, economics and economics!
Asante Sana!
This article was compiled by Dr Mugano. Dr Mugano is an Author and Expert on Trade and Development. He holds a Ph.D in Economics from Nelson Mandela University. He is the Registrar at Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University. Feedback: Cell: 0772 541 209; email: [email protected]; website: www.zegu.ac.zw
