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Bulawayo Bureau
Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has said the country since the coming in of the new dispensation, is in an economic transformation mode towards improved livelihoods following decades of economic stagnation and regression.

Addressing the 2019 parliamentary pre-Budget seminar in Bulawayo last week, Adv Mudenda said the economy was beginning to recover despite the present fiscal challenges.

“I wish to highlight with a sense of pride that following the dawn of the new dispensation, profound changes have evolved over the past 12 months,” he said.

“The distance traversed, though figuratively short, has epoch-defining landmarks inclusive of peaceful democratic space conducive for leap-frogging our economic development.

“I have no doubt that Zimbabwe is in a compelling mode of transformational economic change, trailblazing towards a secure future which is epitomised by improved livelihoods for our people who for decades have borne the brunt of economic stagnation and regression.

“The economy is beginning to slowly, but progressively recover notwithstanding the fiscal tremors that the economy is experiencing of late.”

The Government has already pitched and is implementing the Transitional Stabilisation Programme aimed at transforming the economy between now and 2020 with a long-term vision of creating an upper middle-class economy by 2030.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has implored Zimbabweans to brace for tough, but corrective economic measures that might appear painful to some.

Under the blueprint, the Government is already undertaking a string of austerity measures aimed at addressing fiscal disequilibrium and enticing increased domestic and Foreign Direct Investment.

Among the key initiatives is trimming Government expenditure to tame the budget deficit, reforming State-owned enterprises, fighting corruption, widening the revenue base, strengthening use of the multiple-currency system, among a cocktail of monetary policy reforms.

Adv Mudenda said fortitude, perseverance and political will are needed to weather the current economy glitches.

“As observed by the late great statesman of Africa and former president of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Cde Nelson Mandela, in 1999, ‘The long walk is not yet over. The prize of a better life has yet to be won.’

“The long walk to economic freedom is arduous and yet it should be accomplished without fail.

“To that extent, Parliament must firmly put this country on a road to economic recovery through passing a Budget that is anthropocentric and pro-poor in character,” said Adv Mudenda.

“The economic trajectory of the 2019 National Budget must be predicated on the primacy to fulfil the will of the people from whom the authority to govern is derived as aptly enunciated in Section 3(2) (f) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”

Adv Mudenda said the Budget must resonate with the people’s aspirations for a better life through job creation and quality service delivery.

“That reality should always resonate at the back of our minds as we craft the 2019 Budget,” he said.

“In this regard, Parliament, as the sovereign representative institution of the people of Zimbabwe, must not abdicate its sacred role of passing a robust Budget that is in accord with the national people’s developmental                              aspirations.”