Government must expeditiously engage ZIST

Zimbabwe has for a very long time been experiencing boorish governance which led to unprecedented economic abyss coupled with gross violation of human rights and other ignoble injustices manufactured under the guise of jealously guarding the country's sovereignty. The country is in the grip of economic paralysis and political untidiness due to unwillingness and insincerity by politicians to engage in candid dialogue that will definitely scaffold the nation for growth and stability.

Currently, the country is witnessing too much involvement of the military in national politics and the absolute dabbling of the same in the electoral affairs. The opposition is crying foul describing the situation as a blow to democracy.

Where are we going as the nation?

The country really needs lasting solutions to the country's wide-ranging problems. People want their voices to be heard, freedom of expression should be guaranteed and more importantly, self-serving and destructive ideologies should be replaced with people centred policies.

As it stands right now, both the ruling party and the opposition do not want to be accountable for the country's economic mess. We therefore need to find ways of addressing our national problems collectively.

Well, I have been giving both the ruling and opposition parties free advice on how to turn around the economy. In my advices, I always emphasize the need for multi-stakeholder dialogue which I believe will address many challenges and concerns. We established a think tank, Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking (ZIST) to foster collective problem-solving, consensus building and interactive decision-making through multi-stakeholder dialogue. This is the right time for the nation to embrace a ‘hard talk' dialogue. It is therefore advisable for the government to honestly engage ZIST to avert crises.

ZIST will continue providing solutions to take the country out of quagmire it finds itself in. We will intensify grooming and developing future leaders. We believe leaders must be able to think critically and strategically. We will intensify our policy advocacy and advisory as well as our research-based strategy. We are so determined to transform the mindset of our leaders and invoke collegiality among Zimbabweans and all political actors to take the country forward. 

To attain home-grown solutions, the citizens' perspective should be considered through their inclusion in national discourses. The strength and stability of the national unity make it possible to solve many problems and strengthen national engagement. This therefore means inclusive participation is key.

As we speak, ZIST is currently mobilizing political parties, civic organizations, religious group, academics, diplomatic community and all stakeholders to attend the forthcoming multi-stakeholder dialogue. Knowing that our current challenges are being aggravated by partisan politics, we are creating an integrated and inclusive national development strategy and economic recovery. Our grassroots consultations to identify key dialogue themes are going on very well. This will result in the establishment of proper economic recovery framework and sound development policy.

This explains well the mission of ZIST and the government must expeditiously engage us.

We no longer want a scenario of contested election results. We need an independent judiciary and the legitimacy of the country's institutions must be strengthened. Corruption, ineffectiveness and political bias must be surmounted.

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo is the Head of Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking - ZIST and he can be contacted at executivedirectorzist@gmail.com