African countries should strive to eradicate poverty as a united block

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says African countries should strive to eradicate poverty as regional or even continental blocks rather than individual countries.

Addressing participants at the Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) 2011 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, during a discussion on poverty eradication, Mutambara said as united regional blocks, the African voice would be more forceful in advocating for or against certain rights that are aimed at poverty eradication on the globe in the face of the strong and rich countries.

Mutambara, who shared the platform with Lesotho Prime Minister Pakadita Mosisidi and Kenyan Vice President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka during the 2nd session of the 2011 LID, told the participants that Africa and other developing countries should aim at achieving a sustainable economic growth rate of at least 10 % every year to ensure stability.

Mutambara also stressed the importance of availing the necessary resources for production such as land and financing to previously disadvantaged groups to enable them to produce more and create jobs to empower communities, citing the example of the land redistribution programme in Zimbabwe.

Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara also stressed the need for innovation through the creation of economic clusters in areas of specialisation such as platinum and diamond production, value-addition and marketing, where he said the previously marginalised should have shareholding.

He bemoaned lack of access to financial support by most upcoming entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe where some huge and well established institutions are reluctant to lend capital to SMEs and other upcoming business ventures.

Mutambara suggested that the institutions should be given adequate incentives to encourage them to lend to the smaller sector and in some instances penalties can be introduced to the institutions that are reluctant to come on board in this regard.