You cannot fool all the people all the time

The opposition political parties and their allies in various sectors, have, for the umpteenth times, attempted to trigger national panic through sounding a false alarm of a collapsing economy.

It is undisputable that the economy is not at its best. However, the adversity of the national economic status has been hopelessly exaggerated to achieve a sinister motive. That alarm has now become so familiar that it no longer elicits the desired reaction from the public. They have been sold a dummy for long. Abraham Lincoln was dead right when he said: "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Those in the opposition camp cannot fool the public all the time. Since 2013, the Zimbabwean economy was said to be in the intensive care unit (ICU). Three years down the line, same is still said to be in the ICU. Ordinarily, nobody can survive for three years in the ICU. The economy should have long given in or discharged. Admittedly, the economy was in that unit in 2008 and it has since been discharged. Here we have a situation where a doctor is saying a patient was discharged while someone from nowhere is insisting that the patient is still in the ICU. You don't need to be sophisticated to know the right person to believe.

Zanu PF government, which is running the economy, is saying the economy is on the rebound and the opposition is saying it is dying. In a speech to mark Zimbabwe's 36th Independence Day anniversary, President Mugabe told the nation that the economy is on the rebound as witnessed by the resuscitation and formation of companies that have also created employment. He also said that some of the parastatals which were financially troubled were now out of danger. The improvement might not be that colossal but there are positive indicators of improvement.

For instance, there is a noted improvement in the mining sector. "The re-organization of the mining sector, which include the consolidated state ownership of the diamond mines and the strategic management of gold mining and gold products has started showing improved results with gold output now 20.2 tonnes, rising expectedly to 25.5 tonnes by year end," said President Mugabe.

This is the CEO's economic statement of the country that he availed to stakeholders. It boggles the mind that some people who are not even privy to government transactions, dispute the statement. Every corporate company produces similar statements which nobody outside the company's management structure can dispute. Who are Obert Gutu, Jacob Mafume, Issis Mwale, Maxwell Saungweme and John Robertson to dispute the CEO's statement? They have never been in government to have an inkling of government business. Their analysis on government business is tantamount to pub talk which must be dismissed with disdain.

Then opposition thinks that the imagined collapse of the economy has given them an avenue to join government. They have urged President Mugabe and his government to step down and pass over the baton to another administration – maybe MDC-T, PDP, MDC or ZPF. They cannot just get power that easy. They must look back and see how Zanu PF got it. Tens of thousands lost their lives in the fight to wrestle power from the Smith regime. They are luck because they can get power through the ballot. So they must work hard to lure votes instead of trying to thrive on crises. Those demonstrations, which have become fashionable in their camps, can never get them to state house.

While they are telling Zanu PF to pass on the baton, they are not telling the nation what they will do when the baton is in their hands. They just find joy in criticizing Zanu PF without proffering alternatives. The electorate wants to hear their alternative policies that will take the nation out of the woods. For instance, there is a liquidity challenge that the government is battling to alleviate. What do Mafume and Gutu's parties intend to do to arrest this challenge if Zanu PF decides to hand over the baton to them today.

As for the MDC-T, they have already shown that they are clueless. Their leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai always thinks of demonstrations as the panacea to the problems the country is facing. He is even mulling staging a demonstration over the proposed introduction of bond notes, which are meant to deal with cash shortage. Unfortunately, the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya has managed to convince most of the people on the merits of the bond coins. Tsvangirai is likely to embarrass himself should he proceed with his bond notes demonstrations.

It is unfortunate that Zimbabwe suffers a dearth of opposition parties that add value to the political matrix. In other countries like South Africa, the ruling party is always on its toes because there is vibrant opposition breathing down its neck. Here we have an opposition that dwells in the past. An opposition that speciously thinks that the cash shortage is linked to the 2013 elections which they believe was stolen from them.