I can do better than Mugabe

Our focus must now be on how do we become the leaders and ensure that our skills are applied to develop our country.

I think it's time we Zimbabweans begin to create other leadership alternatives and not wait for political parties to be our sole source of the future leadership of Zimbabwe. We have unfortunately limited the pool from which we can draw those who can create a better future for our country by looking only to politicians to provide the leadership. Well, it must be clear to all that they have failed and will continue to do so because of personal interests.

I continue to attend many discussions on solutions for Zimbabwe and all the time, I end up convinced that as long as we sit and complain or discuss solutions, we will never really create the circumstances we want. We have to now decide that we do not want to be led by average men who happen to be in politics and so we must step up and increase the competition.

We all agree what is wrong with Zimbabwe, but more important, we all know what it takes to revive this economy. We have everything we need to make that happen. Our focus must now be how do we become the leaders and ensure that our skills are applied to develop our country.

In my opinion ZANU (PF) is everything we do not need simply because they have demonstrated to us that they are unable to take Zimbabwe forward firstly because of their culture of management and secondly because of the political baggage which they carry. We cannot expect these individuals to create a modern, vibrant democracy in Zimbabwe.

I have also recently relooked at the Medium Term Economic Plan tabled during the GNU in 2010, and I must say it is a comprehensive and well thought out document that far surpasses ZimAsset or any other blue prints. So, as far as I am concerned, we already have a solution that is ready to be applied in reviving the economy. There is no shortage of ideas there.

What we need now to do as responsible citizens is to change the politics of the country by getting involved and to be the change that we want to see. Gone are the times where we can be content so it by the side-line and criticise. We are wasting our time.

The recent rant by Mugabe on the land issue must be a clear indication to all that he must go.  We can no longer afford to be taken back as a country at the whim of an individual who has clearly failed to lead Zimbabwe. Even his team of ministers have cost this country so much and we must not allow them to continue to plunder and under develop our country. We must now all say enough is enough.

In my opinion, Zimbabwe needs a very simple five point plan: restore the rule of law through credible institutions, maximise revenue collection and minimise costs, allocate resources better and ensure accountability, encourage free enterprise without government interference in business and attract new investment aggressively. If a sitting President can only focus on these issues our economy would be back on the recovery path. Zimbabwe can no longer afford village mentality at state house.

The challenge we face is to have politicians who are not loyal to their political parties but to Zimbabwe first and I am afraid that the current political parties we have will not serve our interests first.

We need independent thinkers who are not in positions because of their past or party loyalty, we need people with exposure outside Zimbabwe and we need younger leaders to now come to the fore. In my view this can simply be achieved through us coming together as independent democrats who do not have any political party baggage and are well educated and understand how the economy works.

Our politics can no longer be about the struggle but must now be about effective resource mobilisation, allocation and project management. These are the leaders we need to take Zimbabwe forward. These kinds of people are definitely not in government or in politics yet but are waiting for change which unfortunately can only come through them. It is time to step up and be counted.

My challenge is therefore for all progressive Zimbabweans who care about the country to step up so we can establish a new group of individuals, who do not see politics as a platform for personal enrichment but rather to make a difference, serve the people and develop our country.

This means we need a new President of Zimbabwe who is not drawn from the current political stock. We also need new informed and skilled members of parliament. We need professionals and not party stalwarts to run Zimbabwe.

We must begin to think outside the current paradigm if we are to do things differently. We must be courageous just as those who went to the bush for the country and not for personal gain.

I for one am certainly sure that I can do a better job than Mugabe has done and invite all democrats who love Zimbabwe not to be constrained by this political party mentality that is not serving our needs. We must take responsibility now.

The choice is clear; we can sit and point fingers at ZANU (PF) until we get old or we can choose to be the solution to Zimbabwe's future and actively work together to replace them at all levels of leadership.

The future is in our hands.

Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You can contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com