Dinha arrest: ten-point economic plan in action

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament by President Robert Mugabe recently emphasised the need for the government to be modeled on the ten-point plan for economic development as a way of arresting the economic decline in the country and the pursuance of an anti-corruption thrust was among the ten-point economic plan.

As such the arrest and subsequent appearance in the Bindura Magistrate Court of the Minister of State for Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs, Martin Dinha, on Wednesday 2 September 2015 on allegations of extorting sixty thousand dollars (US$60 000) from a white commercial farmer as protection fee against eviction could not have come at a better time. The arrest of Minister Dinha showed that the President's call for the country to pursue ant-corruption thrust was not a fluke but reality. Such an arrest of a cabinet Minister by the police could be the beginning of many arrests of such big fish to come.

While the country had been under siege from the sanctions imposed on the country by the western world, alleged corruption by senior leaders in both government and the private sector has also crippled the economic turn-around strategy of the country. Corruption has also been singled out as a cancer which is affecting the country and now it seriously needs the swift action by the police to make sure that those involved in the vice are brought to book.

The arrest of Minister Dinha should be a starting point to curtail corruption and the police should keep on the momentum. Senior government workers have been abusing their public offices and getting away with it. Sometimes one finds it difficult to get a simple document like a passport or a driver's license just because one did not pay the processing officer a bribe. Now that the police have started arresting those who used to think that they were above the law, more of such arrests are needed if we are serious in fighting corruption. The police should make sure that the country is rid off of corrupt elements within government and private sector by arresting those involved in such activities.

When President Mugabe addressed parliament during his SONA, the MDC-T MPs heckled him when he said that his government would pursue an ant-corruption thrust for the ten-point economic plan to be successful. They heckled him as they thought that the President was just saying that without action being taken against those found to be corrupt. Their behaviour was calculated to embarrass the President as they believed that what he said was not going to be followed by actions.

Now the same MDC-T MPs should be ashamed of their actions as the President's SONA gets into action. President Mugabe's call for the ant-corruption thrust to be pursued, is what made it possible for Minister Dinha to be arrested over allegations of the abuse of his office as a public servant, extortion as well as money laundering. Such an arrest of a high profile figure in government is a welcome development which should be commended by all rightful thinking people in the country.

While a person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, the arrest of Minister Dinha proves that corruption cannot be tolerated in the country. Zimbabweans should welcome this move and support the police by reporting anyone involved in corrupt activities. A country cannot survive economically if its citizens are corrupt, hence, massive arrests for those involved in corruption should be expedited.

Of late the police has been arresting land barons that have been fleecing some unsuspecting people of their hard earned cash through bogus stand deals but people were not satisfied by such a move as only the so-called small fish were targeted leaving behind the big ones. Now that the police have shown that the law is not discriminatory as anyone can be arrested regardless of his/her status in government, Zimbabweans should welcome this development as a big achievement by the force which has been seen as lenient to senior public figures in the country.

The arrest of Minister Dinha and his subsequent appearance of the same in the magistrate's court in Bindura, should stand as a warning to those who are practicing corruption as their means of accumulating wealth. Actually, the police should go ahead and carry out investigations in all sectors of the economy as a way of flushing out those who unprocedurally and illegally accumulated their wealth.

 People have developed a tendency of accumulating their wealth through illegal means, hence making the country suffer economically. Some people in government use their political influence and positions as a way of amassing wealth which is a disadvantage to those not well positioned in government or society.

In every sector of the economic, corrupt activities are rife. For example, it is difficult to get land if you are not connected. Even those looking for vacancies in colleges, be it teacher training or nurse training, it is difficult to get enrolled for such training if you have not paid something to those in charge of enrolment. Corruption has become so cancerous to the extent that people always find it normal to pay a bribe for anything even where payment is not needed.  

So the police should spread its wings and make sure that those found on the wrong side of the law are brought to book. Even in the land allocation, those with political influence are said to have amassed multiple farms because of corrupt tendencies. As such the police should leave no stone unturned in the fight to eradicate corruption in the country.