Censorship Board is a misplaced priority

Indeed this is the time when the Government should be dealing with economic matters to revive the economy. The nation is gripped with severe poverty. Zimbabweans are very disappointed by the continuous Zanu-PF government to abuse state institutions by appointing relatives and friends to useless boards at the time when the economy is burning and majority are languishing in poverty.

Our nation should be guided by principles from the national charter. We have a constitution in place to guide the executive on how appointments should be handled and in the interest of the public for accountability purpose the executive was supposed to have consulted the public on how to proceed with such an appointment. Honestly Zimbabweans cannot do anything about it but there is a serious outcry over the appointment of Mrs Bona Chikore and Chigwedere especially at a time when the economy has totally collapsed. This is absolutely an insult to the nation at large. What the president failed to explain is the criteria he used to appoint this board. Looking at the composition of the board one can easily detect that the appointment of the board has a lot of irregularities. Such appointment were supposed to be made through parliament, in fact they were supposed to be debated first before such insults were made at people.

What has surprised many is the appointment of Bona Chikore on such crucial assignments. State boards need experienced people with technical expertise. What we have seen with Zimbabwean Government is too many appointments without anything meaningful coming from those boards. What has these boards achieved in the past except to chew and milk the fiscus? We need transparency when dealing with national matters. Chigwedere ran down the education ministry and caused havoc, Zimbabweans received the news of his appointment as the board chairperson with mixed reactions. This is the man at the centre of row with his children at the time he is battling with courts to cleanse himself from witchcraft allegations, Mugabe was supposed to have waited until he is cleared by the courts.

Such appointments will compromise the integrity of the nation at large especially that he failed to run an important ministry during his time when he was the minister of education so what then do you expect from him? State appointments should be guarded jealously and should be done cautiously. If you look at the current composition of the cabinet you will find that there is nothing new except corruption and awarding each other contracts and at the same time milking the treasury at the time when the economy has totally collapsed.

Is it necessary yo appoint such a board?

The obvious answer will be no. why then would someone go against the wishes of the majority? The economy is badly fractured and the focus is supposed to be on the economy. The Government is battling to pay civil servants and on top of that the executive further burdens the fiscus by appointing a useless board. What then that means is that all these people serving on this board will demand hefty allowances at the time when we are facing severe shortage of foreign currency. The criteria to appoint the board was not done on merit or expertise but it was it was based on patronage.

Best advice

The correct procedure is to reverse the appointment and let it go through the act of parliament. It is the right of the citizenry to debate issues of national matters before an appointment is effected. We have a serious problem in Zimbabwe because generally we are failing to adhere to simple principles guided by our national charter. Whom did Mugabe consult when such a crucial decision which involve tax payer's money? We have more than 90% of youth who are unemployed and most people have resorted to vending and criminal activities and for Mugabe to appoint her daughter on such a board is an insult in the face of the majority when majority are languishing in poverty. The husband to Mrs Chikore was awarded a controversial tender for Diesel Dema project which caused stir among the citizens and Mugabe should have considered that one and make a right move before making such appointments.

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Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Head of Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability (MINDS) which is responsible for policy research and analysis. He can be contacted at greatorminds@gmail.com