Zimbabwe national assets plunder should be deemed a treasonous act

Finance Minister Biti's comments this week about unpredictable and deliberately manipulated and compromised internal revenue remittances by some corrupt government departments in the Home Affairs Ministries as condoned via an opaque accounting system deserve some reiteration in the true sense.

As the nation continues to grapple with cash flow challenges, extending the begging bowl the world over and inviting undue contempt and ridicule, some observant global community members and critics keep asking where the money generated in wealthy Zimbabwe is going.

In some cases some nations have not been forthcoming to lend a hand to Zimbabwe because they already know the richness of the nation through various resources and income-generating projects as well as the current cash flow liquidity capacity among the internal structures.

It is certainly a cliché that if all government departments were loyal and faithful in upholding the true patriotic cause of Zimbabwe, our borrowing capacity could be drastically cut.

A trailed remittance processing system underlined with a prudent cash management agenda or modernized electronic payment system could potentially realize the better side of a developed Zimbabwe. Such a move could also trigger respect among the government institutions through a spawned sense of fiscal responsibility proven before those nations that have slammed their doors in the face of Zimbabwe at the desperate hour of financial need.

On the same cord, if Zimbabwe harnessed her resources and kept track of its harvests, she would not be reduced to a perennial beggar looking for funds to hold elections, buy food, medical drugs, books or water chemicals. There are quite a number of departments that should be sprucing up the operations of the exchequer.

These include police fines, criminal court fines, immovable property transfer taxes, deceased estate duty, customs duty and excise, passports fees, births and deaths levies, marriage license fees, central vehicle registry fees, sales taxes and mineral wealth revenues. Daily, these departments collect substantial amounts yet their efforts signify a drop in an ocean as pronounced by the continued insolvency on our government department coffers. Their dire straits are manifested through a persistent failure to stand up, deliver, be independent and sustain the exchequer.

Despite the calls to be accountable, the issue remains a far cry from reality. Such inertia for accountability has triggered a ripple effect where not even a single department is keen to be fully accountable. Many now have resorted to the culture of embezzlement as a way to further personal causes. They do so due to the absence of practical laws that come with prohibitive retribution or deterrence features. Without a true practical experience of the true wrath of the law, no one respects the system, a pure mark of waning patriotism.

Without any condign punishment to sustain the consequences for violations, the condoning of such repugnant vices has actually become a menacing catalyst for many to follow suit. That has ultimately been the bug that is destroying our powerful nation from within.

The writing is on the wall that Zimbabwe has meaningful sources of income that could, if properly accounted for, change the terrain and bring rainforests in seeming deserts. The story could be a different one today but the problem now is on establishing the control measure threshold. The insidious issue now is that the corruption and the absence of accountability has prodded many to join the same band wagon where no one has the capacity to check the other on the true implications of public fund management.

Organizational behavior regulatory compliance, let alone policing of practices is nowhere near the management and leadership matrix of these public institutions. Those at the helm deliberately avoid questions and accountability as they focus on rhetoric workshops to condemn poor practices.

Those at the lower ranks of the organizational hierarchy structures are now weary of watching jaw-dropping plunder of resources from the terraces. Given a chance, they also quickly fall into the same trappings where they practice similar vices because they see the senior leaders do it with impunity. Everyone now is talking but no one will make a move to stop it.

Besides the talk and the endless rhetoric, Zimbabwe is unduly set on a retrogression gear as long as no one takes the lead to demand urgent answers on how the public funds are disappearing into thin air by the day. The Presidency is aware of the problem. The only issue is mere talk with less action to send a clearer message. With that, the situation is a free for all scenario.

As a quick solution, the various legislative committees should set task forces that demand that each department reports to parliament the unskewed trails of collected revenues through a proper question and answer session supported by a demonstrably feasible accounting system. Such reports should allow field experts to establish trends, statistics and financial forecasting as a control measure for the financial matrix to prevent fraud and also as a way to enable auditors to keep track of the control system.

All remittances should easily be accounted for starting with agreed accounting systems that should have a zero tolerance on errors through conversion, fraud or embezzlement.

A uniform system of accounting that touches all these departments could be a great stop gap gauge to comply with GAAP measures or any other meaningful control tools in the world of accounting and finance. There are numerous task forces, resources and tools that can be implemented to promote a publicly accountable system that eliminates public fraud in government departments.

To say Zimbabwe is poor when so much income is flowing in daily as revenue sounds bizarre. Such a distorted impression does not augur well for national reputation especially among those nations approached by Zimbabwe through a need for loans and credit facilities.

A total implementation of proper accounts could be the ultimate solution towards the national sustainability agenda for such a mineral-rich and resource infested country. With the aid of considerable computer technology and skilled human capital available in Zimbabwe, surely harnessing of potential revenue and channeling same to the areas in need as well as infrastructure development could mean the true revival of an ailing Zimbabwe.

For now the prevalence of the current corruption, confusion and chaos simply helps the prejudiced minds to point fingers and laugh at 'another struggling African nation", yet a realignment of strategies and serious implementation of skills and trades could re-ignite Zimbabwe into once again, a formidable force in the region and continent.

While effort is being made to re-align strategic operations in remittance processing, it should also be hastily highlighted here that deliberately calculated crimes that destabilize inseverable aggregates or strategic national assets like public finance could be legislatively re-defined as tantamount to treason. Such a move could help re-introduce sanity, citizenship responsibility and honesty in public service for the progress of the nation.

----------------
Tapiwa Kapurura writes in a personal capacity. Article kindly reproduced through courtesy of www.zimeye.org