Opinion / Columnist
MPs forced to discuss economic meltdown but offer to cut leaves instead root and branch
25 Jun 2015 at 05:53hrs | Views
Non-constituency Member of Parliament Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who sits on a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs said Treasury should cut travel costs and prioritise the welfare of ambassadors and embassy staff in foreign countries who have gone for months without receiving salaries.
As of March this year, staff at Zimbabwe's foreign missions have not been paid for eight months and were owed $40 million in salary arrears.
Foreign affairs secretary, Joey Bimha said ambassadors and embassy staff have not received a salary increase in over 10 years as government struggles with budgetary constraints.
"You cannot have all your 100-plus directors travelling business class, if you look at your air travel expenses given the number of delegations you take to (foreign) summits, it is unsustainable," said Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a former minister of regional integration and international co-operation in Zimbabwe's unity government between 2009-13.
"How is it that a nation that is so poorly resourced can still behave in such a manner like there is so much money in the country yet we are facing a crisis?"
It has taken a long time for the reality of the economic meltdown to finally sink in the thick heads of our political leaders. Sadly, they are still so much behind the times, they are calling for trimming the leaves when the situation now demands a root and branch solution.
Forcing the 100-plus directors to travel economy class will help but it is too little too late. What good is attending to a patient's cuts and scratches whilst doing nothing to his big open gangrenous wounds!
The Zimbabwe economy is dying from economic burden of the wasteful gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and from the lack of new investment and financial assistance because of the country's parasitic indigenisation laws and chronic lawlessness. The country needs a root and branch clean-up of its economic and political systems to get rid of these economic and political structural problems.
The economic meltdown has been going on for more than 10 years now when companies started to close down and unemployment soared to 80%. This Mugabe and Zanu PF regime has done nothing to address the underlying economic and political problems other than make empty promises to end corruption or make big song and dance blaming the sanctions imposed by the West as the cause of all the nation's problems.
Mugabe and Zanu PF will never do anything meaningful to end mismanagement, corruption, etc. because to do so the regime will have to dismantle its political patronage system. With the national economy now in a real mess Zanu PF is now counting on the political patronage system more than ever to stay in power.
So as far as Mugabe and Zanu PF are concerned, accepting political and economic reforms will be to commit political suicide. As for the nation the country will continue to sink into economic and political hell until the political and economic reforms are carried out. Not that Zanu PF itself can be saved; as the economic meltdown gets worse and worse the in fighting in the party has got worse and worse as members fight over the ever shrinking national cake.
Zanu PF is destined to implode regardless of whether the political and economic reforms are implemented or not. What is at issue here is the nation; implementing the reforms will save the nation and doing nothing means Zanu PF will drag the nation into the abyss with it!
Parliament should be the one national institution to make the tough national decisions necessary to get the nation out of this hell-hole. Sadly the Zimbabwe parliament has good-for-nothing busy bodies masquerading as MPs and Senators whose only contribution has been to help drag the nation into this hell-hole!
To end Zimbabwe the economic meltdown; Mugabe and his Zanu PF cabal must stepped down now to allow the critical economic and political reforms to be carried out. After all, this regime is illegitimate as Didymus Mutasa confirmed last week how Zanu PF rigged the vote by bussing in voters. We need a root and branch solution and no more of the time wasting trimming a few leaves; get directors to fly economy class, indeed!
As of March this year, staff at Zimbabwe's foreign missions have not been paid for eight months and were owed $40 million in salary arrears.
Foreign affairs secretary, Joey Bimha said ambassadors and embassy staff have not received a salary increase in over 10 years as government struggles with budgetary constraints.
"You cannot have all your 100-plus directors travelling business class, if you look at your air travel expenses given the number of delegations you take to (foreign) summits, it is unsustainable," said Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a former minister of regional integration and international co-operation in Zimbabwe's unity government between 2009-13.
"How is it that a nation that is so poorly resourced can still behave in such a manner like there is so much money in the country yet we are facing a crisis?"
It has taken a long time for the reality of the economic meltdown to finally sink in the thick heads of our political leaders. Sadly, they are still so much behind the times, they are calling for trimming the leaves when the situation now demands a root and branch solution.
Forcing the 100-plus directors to travel economy class will help but it is too little too late. What good is attending to a patient's cuts and scratches whilst doing nothing to his big open gangrenous wounds!
The economic meltdown has been going on for more than 10 years now when companies started to close down and unemployment soared to 80%. This Mugabe and Zanu PF regime has done nothing to address the underlying economic and political problems other than make empty promises to end corruption or make big song and dance blaming the sanctions imposed by the West as the cause of all the nation's problems.
Mugabe and Zanu PF will never do anything meaningful to end mismanagement, corruption, etc. because to do so the regime will have to dismantle its political patronage system. With the national economy now in a real mess Zanu PF is now counting on the political patronage system more than ever to stay in power.
So as far as Mugabe and Zanu PF are concerned, accepting political and economic reforms will be to commit political suicide. As for the nation the country will continue to sink into economic and political hell until the political and economic reforms are carried out. Not that Zanu PF itself can be saved; as the economic meltdown gets worse and worse the in fighting in the party has got worse and worse as members fight over the ever shrinking national cake.
Zanu PF is destined to implode regardless of whether the political and economic reforms are implemented or not. What is at issue here is the nation; implementing the reforms will save the nation and doing nothing means Zanu PF will drag the nation into the abyss with it!
Parliament should be the one national institution to make the tough national decisions necessary to get the nation out of this hell-hole. Sadly the Zimbabwe parliament has good-for-nothing busy bodies masquerading as MPs and Senators whose only contribution has been to help drag the nation into this hell-hole!
To end Zimbabwe the economic meltdown; Mugabe and his Zanu PF cabal must stepped down now to allow the critical economic and political reforms to be carried out. After all, this regime is illegitimate as Didymus Mutasa confirmed last week how Zanu PF rigged the vote by bussing in voters. We need a root and branch solution and no more of the time wasting trimming a few leaves; get directors to fly economy class, indeed!
Source - Wilbert Mukori
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