Opinion / Columnist
Mashakada's Nation Economic Council is a stupid idea devoid of merit
29 Jul 2014 at 13:30hrs | Views
MDC-T's former Economic Planning Minister Tapiwa Mashakada has called for the establishment of an all-stakeholder National Economic Council (Nec) in order to arrest Zimbabwe's economic collapse.
Mashakada said the council will "sit down and work out modalities of recovering the economy … and reversing the economic decline", which he alleged, "cannot just be done by Zanu-PF alone".
What a stupid idea!
The trouble with people like Tapiwa Mashakada is that they lack common sense much less the imagination one would expect in a leader.
Zimbabwe's economic nightmare is not because Zanu-PF did not know there was corruption and that it was destroying the nation's economy, for example. Of course everyone has knew all along that corruption was the cancer killing the economic; Mugabe and Zanu-PF have gone to great lengths to deny this because it was an integral part of the political patronage system that has kept him and the party in power all these years.
Corruption has become so rampant it is sucking the very life out of parastatals like PSMAS, ZE-SA, City Council across the land in the obscene high salaries and allowances paid to the top managers and board members and the corrupt contracts. These institutions have no money to pay the lowly paid workers or provide even the most basic service they are paid to provide.
Mugabe has done nothing to stop this looting because he is just as guilty of the looting himself. Mugabe had a $1 million birthday party, a $ 5 million wedding for his daughter held in his $ 20 million Blue Roof mansion, spent $ 5 million on bronze statues of himself, etc. all spent in two months alone. How can someone like that tell his cronies to stop looting; after all they are only playing catching up with him!
The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic crisis is the lack of political will to do the right thing! Tapiwa Mashakada should know what lack of political will means; MDC-T caught the same fever during the GNU rendering them totally useless.
Mashakada was involved in the party's decision not to implement any democratic reforms during the GNU. All the MDC-T leaders knew the reforms were important; they were reminded of that a thousand times. They also knew that implementing the reforms would upset Mugabe; he had allowed them to enjoy the benefits of being in power on par with their Zanu-PF counterparts, they did not dare upset him and be ungrateful.
"MDC-T vadzidza kudya vanyerere!" (Abe MDC-T sebafunda ukudla bethule) (MDC leaders have already learnt to enjoy life on the gravy train and not rock the boat!) was the pithy remark from one Zanu-PF official six months into the GNU! True enough, MDC-T never mustered any political will to even get one democratic reform implemented.
Ever since the rigged July 2013 elections where many MDC-T leaders were kicked off the gravy train people like Mashakada, Tsvangirai and many others in the party have been looking for ways for them to get back on the gravy train. As MDC-T's former Minister of Economic Planning he sees himself playing a major role in this NEC; the fact that it irrelevant is itself irrelevant.
What is required here is a body; call it a council or interim administration; with the political will to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. The government elected in free and fair elections will have the people's mandate to address the problem of rampant corruption and all the other teething economic problems.
Mashakada just wants to get back on the gravy train and is hoping his NEC proposal is his ticket back on the train. The council will never propose anything Mugabe will not want to hear and thus the economic crisis will continue. The NEC is just another stupid idea and a waste of time from MDC-T leaders dying to get back on the gravy train!
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Nomusa Garikai can be contacted at zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
Mashakada said the council will "sit down and work out modalities of recovering the economy … and reversing the economic decline", which he alleged, "cannot just be done by Zanu-PF alone".
What a stupid idea!
The trouble with people like Tapiwa Mashakada is that they lack common sense much less the imagination one would expect in a leader.
Zimbabwe's economic nightmare is not because Zanu-PF did not know there was corruption and that it was destroying the nation's economy, for example. Of course everyone has knew all along that corruption was the cancer killing the economic; Mugabe and Zanu-PF have gone to great lengths to deny this because it was an integral part of the political patronage system that has kept him and the party in power all these years.
Corruption has become so rampant it is sucking the very life out of parastatals like PSMAS, ZE-SA, City Council across the land in the obscene high salaries and allowances paid to the top managers and board members and the corrupt contracts. These institutions have no money to pay the lowly paid workers or provide even the most basic service they are paid to provide.
Mugabe has done nothing to stop this looting because he is just as guilty of the looting himself. Mugabe had a $1 million birthday party, a $ 5 million wedding for his daughter held in his $ 20 million Blue Roof mansion, spent $ 5 million on bronze statues of himself, etc. all spent in two months alone. How can someone like that tell his cronies to stop looting; after all they are only playing catching up with him!
The root cause of Zimbabwe's economic crisis is the lack of political will to do the right thing! Tapiwa Mashakada should know what lack of political will means; MDC-T caught the same fever during the GNU rendering them totally useless.
Mashakada was involved in the party's decision not to implement any democratic reforms during the GNU. All the MDC-T leaders knew the reforms were important; they were reminded of that a thousand times. They also knew that implementing the reforms would upset Mugabe; he had allowed them to enjoy the benefits of being in power on par with their Zanu-PF counterparts, they did not dare upset him and be ungrateful.
"MDC-T vadzidza kudya vanyerere!" (Abe MDC-T sebafunda ukudla bethule) (MDC leaders have already learnt to enjoy life on the gravy train and not rock the boat!) was the pithy remark from one Zanu-PF official six months into the GNU! True enough, MDC-T never mustered any political will to even get one democratic reform implemented.
Ever since the rigged July 2013 elections where many MDC-T leaders were kicked off the gravy train people like Mashakada, Tsvangirai and many others in the party have been looking for ways for them to get back on the gravy train. As MDC-T's former Minister of Economic Planning he sees himself playing a major role in this NEC; the fact that it irrelevant is itself irrelevant.
What is required here is a body; call it a council or interim administration; with the political will to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. The government elected in free and fair elections will have the people's mandate to address the problem of rampant corruption and all the other teething economic problems.
Mashakada just wants to get back on the gravy train and is hoping his NEC proposal is his ticket back on the train. The council will never propose anything Mugabe will not want to hear and thus the economic crisis will continue. The NEC is just another stupid idea and a waste of time from MDC-T leaders dying to get back on the gravy train!
--------------
Nomusa Garikai can be contacted at zimbabwesocialdemocrats@gmail.com
Source - Nomusa Garikai
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