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President Mugabe

PRESIDENT Mugabe’s State of the Nation address delivered in Parliament yesterday was spot on in terms of giving the country a fresh impetus to economic turnaround efforts.

What is important about the address is that it set out clear direction for concerned Government ministries in their endeavour to ensure the country realises its set goals.

It is now easier for the ministries to tackle programmes under their domain after President Mugabe presented a 10-point plan that should be a guideline for everyone.

The 10-point plan is important in that it is a summation of the Government’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.

We know that those who are mischievous are already attempting to dilute President Mugabe’s speech by insinuating that the 10-point plan is a replacement of Zim-Asset.

This is a view far off the mark because a simple perusal of the plan clearly shows that all its contents make the major aspects of Zim-Asset, especially the four clusters contained in that document. Zim-Asset anchors around four clusters, namely Food Security and Nutrition, Social Services and Poverty Eradication, Infrastructure and Utilities as well as Value Addition and Beneficiation. The 10-point plan emphasises on revitalising agriculture and agro-processing, beneficiation and value addition, infrastructural development, enhancing small and medium businesses, private sector investment and confidence and stability in the financial services sector.

Other aspects of the 10-points are promoting joint ventures, modernising labour laws, fighting corruption and implementation of the Special Economic Zones.

All these are contained in Zim-Asset and it is most welcome that the President dissected them for easy implementation.

We believe that if pursued with vigour, the 10-point plan will result in economic growth and the creation of the much-needed jobs.

It is important that all the points presented by President Mugabe to Parliament are result-based management, meaning that all Government ministries and agencies, the private sector and development partners and the nation as a whole should join hands for their fruition.

President Mugabe’s speech touched on all important aspects of the economy and his address clearly showed that we are not way off the mark in attaining all the set goals for the nation.

Agriculture must be emphasised considering that the President made it clear that it slowed economic growth from the projected 3,2 percent this year to 1,5 percent.

This was because of drought that ravaged the country in the 2014/15 agricultural season.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, therefore, has a task in this regard to emphasise on irrigation development to help address economic growth concerns in times of drought.

It is good that generally economic growth pointers are very strong as indicated by the President’s address. The fact that mining grew by 3,5 percent and tourism by five percent during the period under review is an important step towards total recovery of the economy.

The growth in these sectors can rightly be attributed to work that the Government and the respective ministers have been doing as part of Zim-Asset. That the President’s speech was all encompassing, covering all the major aspects of economic growth must be commended.

The President tackled what should be done in the small and medium enterprises sector, the financial services sector, in ICT, infrastructure and the labour market, especially after the massive job loses triggered by the July 17 Supreme Court ruling.

Another aspect to be commended is the attraction of the much-needed foreign investment and the tone set by the President in scaling re-engagement efforts with the West.

We also welcome the proposed changes to the procurement process which will be brought by a new Procurement Bill expected before the end of the year. It has been a concern to various investors that the procurement process is cumbersome and in some instances riddled with corruption.

We expect this new Bill to remove the bureaucracy associated with the procurement process and bring in a fresh mandate of doing business.