In the long run we are all dead

Clemence Machadu
Insight
Howdy folks! The year was 1923 when British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote the famous quote “in the long run we are all dead”. Many regard him as one of the greatest and most original economists of all time.

This phrase lingered in my mind about a week ago while I was attending an event organised by the Office of the President and Cabinet to review implementation of Zim-Asset prioritised programmes and projects under the Rapid Results Initiative.

Folks,matichadya pane ramangwana haanyaradze mwana – in the long run, we are all dead!

While we might come up with wonderful policies that speak to our aspirations, what matters most at the end of the day is successful and effective implementation of those policies to ensure we get results that improve the lives of the generality of the citizenry.

I think this was the essence of Keynes’ statement and that of Government’s RRI; to say instead of just mentioning what we want to do, let us also identify low-hanging fruits that can quickly bring tangible results and give ourselves specific short timelines to attain those goals.

You will realise that Zimbabwe has implemented a number of policies since Independence, many of which failed to meet their goals. I will quickly mention the Industrial Development Policy (2012-2016), which aimed at increasing the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP to 30 percent and raise its contribution to exports to 50 percent by 2016.

Nothing near those targets was reached when the policy expired last year.

When such long-term policies fail to bear fruit, it calls for a change in approach and coming up with something that is more aggressive on results.

The RRI that Government is focusing on aims to ensure some targets cutting across the various sectors of the economy are attained within 100 days. Developing a rapid results framework helps in translating long-term goals into concrete action, quick results, and effectiveness.

In our own context, the concept was somehow inspired by the realisation that traditional reform approaches have not led to tangible results, in many cases, although they may sometimes embrace critical planning elements such as coming up with visions, missions… you know the drill.

While the RRI approach should help us to accelerate implementation of some projects and programmes, the feedback from Government departments and other agencies running with it shows that more commitment is required by these players to make it a success.

Otherwise, it will continue to suffer the same fate of long-term policies.

The different clusters running with the RRI surely have room to improve in their operations.

Some teams are actually not even meeting, while some parastatals that are supposed to come on board are reluctant to co-operate.

There are also instances whereby some ministries change officials constituting the teams, which frustrates progress that would have been made.

And surprisingly, while the current 100-day RRI is ending on December 5, there are some teams that have not yet been trained and can, therefore, not run with the programme.

A good example is establishment of a masterplan for the Bulawayo Special Economic Zone which is still to be done as members are yet to receive training.

Will they be able to achieve their targets?

You will realise that all these are issues that don’t really require money to implement but just commitment and more organisation and strategic support.

However, money cannot be entirely ruled out for the overall realisation of the targets. There is definitely need to make sure that resources are made available and linked with targets so that no excuse will be given for lack of resources. It is apparent that some RRI goals were poorly scoped as there are still no resources to cater for them.

But you will also realise that lack of coordination also plays a role as some teams were professing ignorance over something that would have been done yet reported as not having been done.

It, therefore, calls for a robust communication strategy to publicise what would have been done as this will also help in attracting investors and managing sentiments. The RRI programme should embrace a media relations arm that complements its work.

Review of the 100-Day RRI implementation also came at a time when the World Bank launched the ease of doing business index for 2018.

In climbing just two steps upwards, from 161 to 159 out of 190, the improvement is not quite impressive for a country that is deliberately running with all these reforms to improve the business environment. It should provoke us to seriously consider the manner in which we are running with RRI.

I will simply highlight one indicator where Zimbabwe recorded a far from satisfactory performance, which is the “starting a business” ranking where the country ranked 180 out of 190.

We are almost at the bottom.

There is a problem when stopping a business takes very little time compared to starting one. So, what message are we sending to investors out there?

Come and start your businesses here where starting it is virtually impossible?

This calls for the different functionaries of Government to invest more commitment in ensuring we expeditiously do all it takes so that reforms are done to improve our image to investors. Otherwise in the long run, we are all dead.

Later folks!