EDITORIAL COMMENT: Making the invisible hand visible

09 Oct, 2016 - 00:10 0 Views
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Making the invisible hand visible Dr Daniel Shumba

The Sunday Mail

“Call it whatever name you want but for politicians to retain their parliamentary seats they have to give something to the voters. Ukasaita zvinhu kwatakavhoterwa uku, haudzoke ku Paramende (if you don’t do things for the electorate, you will not be re-elected). Call it vote buying or whatever name but to me that’s corruption.”
These words were attributed by an online publication to Cde Daniel Shumba, a Zanu-PF House of Assembly legislator, who added that some public officials were subsequently tempted to loot coffers and natural resources once in office because they would have been “cleaned” during the campaigns.

His views had been solicited following Transparency International Zimbabwe’s launch of its 2015 State of Corruption Report in Harare last week, and Cde Shumba was rightly incensed by the revelation/claim that the country was losing around US$1 billion a year to graft.

We are not in a position to say whether or not that statistic from Transparency International is accurate, but no one can fully ignore anecdotal evidence pointing to massive corruption in Zimbabwe.

It is so huge a problem that President Mugabe has made fighting corruption one of the ten major issues in the country’s economic recovery plan and has brought oversight of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission under the Office of the President and Cabinet. Anti-graft pronouncements are made regularly by our public officials, and in particular the past few weeks have seen Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa — who is also the Justice Minister — assuring the nation that Government was serious about clamping down on graft.

What the people need to see is the talk translating into action, and that action should also go to addressing the root cause of the problem rather than only treating its symptoms.

Which takes us back to Cde Shumba’s statement to the effect that desire for public office breeds corruption.
If becoming and remaining an MP is so expensive, why are we in perpetual election mode?
Why are so many people always so willing to enter the fray and risk getting “cleaned” out via campaigning?

Is it, at best, out of love for the people and a desire to serve the nation; or, at not-so-best, a misplaced altruistic and philanthropic pretension that seduces naïve politicians into sacrificing their own personal income and their families’ livelihoods on the altar of that nebulous creature called “the public good”?

Then after the votes have been counted and the swearing-in ceremonies done, the sour stench of last night’s whiskey at the victory celebrations competes with a numbing hangover to bring that politician-of-good-intentions back to reality.
Bills still have to be paid, the kids still have to go to school (more prestigious ones), the spouse of the victor expects better living circumstances (the dingy salons and saloons won’t do anymore), and the electorate (for example, somewhere in Tsholotsho) want bicycles as a show of appreciation. But Treasury will not open its purse more than it can and the allowances paid to our  victorious MP will simply not balance the books.

Is this the point where they start to pinch the public purse to cover some political exigencies at home or back at the constituency, and then lie down at night with only their tortured consciences to keep them company through the night, as they ponder how the path to hell is paved with good intentions?

Or were the intentions ever good in the first place or merely selfish and destructive?
This is chicken-and-egg stuff. What came first: the desire for public office which led to corruption, or the inherent corrupt nature that saw public office as a means to enrich and advance one’s own narrow agendas?
Either way, whether a Robin Hood or Robber Baron, corruption in public offices should not be tolerated and all allegations must be thoroughly investigated to determine the innocence or guilt of the accused.

It is not enough for public officials when implicated in graft by the media — when questioned by President Mugabe as to what is happening to residential land allocations to young Zimbabweans — to say “vakanga vashaya zvekunyora”.
And it is not enough for public officials when implicated in graft by the media to think they can slough off the matter by speaking of an “invisible hand” influencing our sister paper, The Herald.
If anything, the only invisible hands in this country are those that are bleeding Government departments, parastatals and State enterprises.

And those invisible hands should be made visible.
The media have a duty to do no less.

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