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Zimbabwe govt can not hide failure - Musewe
24 May 2017 at 07:12hrs | Views
Political commentator Vince Musewe has said the Zimbabwean government can not hide the failure to build infrastructure in the country.
"You can almost always tell the integrity of any government and its commitment to development by the quality of the country's infrastructure. You cannot hide failure. Countries that are bogged down with corrupt governments tend to have bad quality and dilapidating infrastructure, ostentatious presidential palaces and many white elephants. They have terrible roads, continuous power cuts, erratic and bad quality water supplies and do not look after their environment. The elite are most commonly seen drive luxury expensive SUV's over pot holed roads as a show of their position in society and pretend that all is well," he said.
"The 2010 African Development Bank's report on Zimbabwe's infrastructure and growth, acknowledged that Zimbabwe's economic growth and development cannot be achieved without the availability of appropriate economic and social infrastructure. The need to improve the quality of infrastructure services is, therefore the cornerstone for our future growth. The skeleton is certainly in place, courtesy of Ian Smith's government. Because of that, I truly believe that Zimbabwe can quickly bounce back- but what will it take?"
He said it is estimated that Zimbabwe will need about $20 billion to rehabilitate its infrastructure.
"However, our priority needs to be on improving our institutional arrangements, public resources governance and project management capabilities. We must deal with corruption ruthlessly before we can create an environment of accountability both in the private and public sectors," he said.
"You can almost always tell the integrity of any government and its commitment to development by the quality of the country's infrastructure. You cannot hide failure. Countries that are bogged down with corrupt governments tend to have bad quality and dilapidating infrastructure, ostentatious presidential palaces and many white elephants. They have terrible roads, continuous power cuts, erratic and bad quality water supplies and do not look after their environment. The elite are most commonly seen drive luxury expensive SUV's over pot holed roads as a show of their position in society and pretend that all is well," he said.
He said it is estimated that Zimbabwe will need about $20 billion to rehabilitate its infrastructure.
"However, our priority needs to be on improving our institutional arrangements, public resources governance and project management capabilities. We must deal with corruption ruthlessly before we can create an environment of accountability both in the private and public sectors," he said.
Source - Byo24News
