The Sunday Mail
Cde Keith Guzah
On June 10, Hurungwe West will hold a by-election to fill the vacancy created by Mr Temba Mliswa’s expulsion from Zanu-PF and his subsequent recall from Parliament.
Businessman Cde Keith Never Guza (Zanu-PF) will run for the by-election, come June 10. To get more, Noah Pito (NP) caught up with Cde Guzah (KG) in Hurungwe West on Thursday.
NP: Who is Keith Never Guzah, your brief educational and political background?
KG: Keith Never Guzah is a black empowerment activist, businessman, politician, a father and devout servant of God. I am a holder of a PhD in Entrepreneurship and Economic Development having graduated in 2012. My thesis was on affirmative action as a bulwark against economic imbalances in post-colonial Zimbabwe and dealt with the 1992-2012 period which saw Zimbabwe opening up the financial services sector to indigenous players.
NP: Your name seems to be a household talk across the constituency as we head towards June 10. What really have you done for the people of Hurungwe West that has made you so popular?
KG: I hail from Hurungwe West and as a founder member and longest-serving former president of the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), I have been involved in many developmental programmes and projects in my party district of Rengwe. In my role as the current national president of the National Business Council of Zimbabwe, the apex body for progressive empowerment lobby groups, I have been largely credited with capacity building and rural entrepreneurship training programmes that have churned out dynamic indigenous business persons and rural entrepreneurs. And, of course, charisma has its part in rational aspects of my day-to-day living.
NP: Before the last MP won the Hurungwe West seat in the 2013 harmonised elections, the constituency used to be an MDC-T stronghold. Do you think you will beat your opponent in the forthcoming contest putting into perspective the fact that he has been well connected with the electorate in the past and that there are still some residual MDC-T die-hards in the constituency?
KG: I won the primary elections on the backdrop of what I was practically doing here in Hurungwe West. I think it is a sad indictment to the people of Hurungwe West for anyone to claim that they are well connected to the electorate through developmental projects. Nothing of that nature is on the ground. On the contrary, the roads, clinics, schools and bridges were in such a bad state until I came in and started a massive infrastructural resuscitation programme. I have eight graders working in the constituency to ensure rehabilitation of all the roads in the constituency. I have also embarked on upgrading dilapidated schools while the majority of rural folks now boast of safe and clean water following the rehabilitation and drilling of new boreholes in the area. I have also set up clinics and polyclinics in the constituency to shorten walking distances for the sick and elderly in need of constant health checks.
NP: What do you promise the people of Hurungwe West should you win the June 10 election?
KG: Under the Zanu-PF banner, I promise to continue to advocate for the absolute empowerment of our rural folks through national programmes that can then alleviate their plight. Developmental programmes by their very nature leave the recipients well equipped with extra tools to face the future. Currently the commanding heights of our economy are placed squarely at the lap of the indigenous people. As a Member of Parliament, it therefore, goes without saying that it will become my responsibility to translate that into tangibles. In other words,
I have continuously been in touch with the electorate and will assist them in realising this great and noble empowerment objective.
