Devolution: Mash West aims high Cde Mary Mliswa-Chikoka

Sydney Kawadza Mash West Bureau
After years of claiming to be the best province in Zimbabwe, Mashonaland West has an opportunity to prove itself under Government’s devolution programme.

In his address during the plenary session of the Devolution and Business Conference held recently, businessman and farmer Mr Basil Nyabadza chose not to mince his words indicting the provincial leadership on why the province virtually “imports” all agricultural products.

The province, known by its moniker — Mashonaland Best — in politics, economics and various fora has, however, failed to live to up to the billing with Mr Nyabadza declaring that this pseudonym be suspended until the province starts performing better.

“You always claim to be Mashonaland Best. It is high time we suspend all that because here in Mashonaland West, you grow maize in abundance but it is all taken to Harare and you buy mealie-meal.

“You grow the largest area for wheat during the winter but why do you ‘import’ bread from Mashonaland East? Does that justify that pride to call yourself Mashonaland Best? Minister (Mary Mliswa-Chikoka), let’s agree to suspend that name until you are serious,” the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority chairman declared.

Mr Nyabadza’s indictment was not missed by Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, who, responding to questions from The Herald, acknowledged the pressure on the province to deliver.

She said Mashonaland West has an advantage to leverage its growth via an array of economic sectors such as mining, agriculture and tourism among others.

With devolution being rolled out across the country, Minister Mliswa-Chikoka believes that will also come as a major boost to Mashonaland West’s drive towards a high GDP that benefits the people in the province.

“The real devolution starts with a sense of identity and belonging to our province. That pride that we carry with the understanding that we are residents to the BEST province in the country.

“It is this sense of pride which fosters a shared responsibility that we must all put our shoulders to the wheel to give us purpose and inspiration in how we run the affairs of our province,” she said.

Minister Mliswa-Chikoka further called for a paradigm shift.

“In Government, we need to dust off the civil servant ‘slow, lazy and ineffective’ tag that the people label us. This is the time to go to work, to do the work,” he said.

Early this year, Minister Mliswa-Chikoka embarked on a drive to meet all leaders of Government departments at both provincial and district levels expressing satisfaction from the feedback her office was receiving.

“I took it upon myself to take a tour and find out first-hand how Government is delivering to the people. We had frank and candid, no-holds-barred meetings across the province.

“The system needed a bit of revival and all I did was to set the tone for this year. There is traction in the right direction and service delivery is now being administered,” she said.

Ease-of-doing business, which is critical, according to Minister Mliswa-Chikoka, is now better while she has also successfully destroyed the “silo” mentality among civil servants.

She also urged the private sector to start working for the development of the province.

“This is the time to decide to make enriching and uplifting profits that touch and impact the very lives of the people of Mashonaland West and not just leave it to the likes of Zimplats,” she said adding that those in the corridors of power should be servant leaders as demonstrated by President Mnangagwa.

There is also need for progress on efforts to resuscitate industries such as the Cold Storage Company  and David Whitehead, which, she said, would provide employment for the people of Mashonaland West.

“Our breadbasket status must translate to visible tangibles in the milling and bakeries value chain. Surely, we can’t be buying mealie-meal from Harare, yet most of the country’s grain comes from this province.

“Equally, we cannot expect to continue buying bread from Harare when we have Kariba Bakeries and Rise Marketing here in Mashonaland West.

“We are a big producer of tobacco and our farmers are being robbed at Mapinga while some are perishing on their way to and on arrival at tobacco floors in Harare.”

She said serious devolution should see the opening of tobacco floors in Mashonaland West to decongest Harare.

The province is also endowed with rich mineral resources.

“It is sad that the resources are not directly changing the lives of our people. Artisanal miners are being exploited while the same is true of  the communities,” she said.

“We need to lobby for greater participation, co-operation and regulation of artisanal miners. The Eldorado and Cricket Mine disasters must not be repeated,” she implored.

Minister Mliswa-Chikoka called for smart, private-public-partnerships, which will benefit the people.

She also expressed concern over the amount of idle land in Mashonaland West.

“Maximum utilisation of land will bring huge benefits to our people in the form of jobs and availability of basic commodities at affordable prices,” she said.

While calling for farmers to take agriculture as a business, Minister Mliswa-Chikoka believes bankers should come up with innovative financing models that in tandem with the needs of farmers.

She said the land audit should address the problem of non-performing farmers.

Adequate marketing of tourist attractions, she said, also offered great potential.

“Tourism is a low-hanging fruit and our attractions such as Kariba, Chinhoyi Caves and Mana Pools can easily become much sought-after destinations with proper and sustained marketing,” she said.

Minister Mliswa-Chikoka, however, called a clampdown on corruption for the growth of the province’s economy.

“Without a collaborative undertaking between Government and the private sector to deal with corruption, all our efforts will be in vain,” she said.

While Mr Nyabadza has virtually thrown the cat among pigeons, Minister Mliswa-Chikoka is confident that Mashonaland West is a front-runner in benefiting from devolution.

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