Opinion / Columnist
Sift through Munyeza's 10-point plan
18 May 2016 at 13:44hrs | Views
In his strategy paper christened '10-Point Plan', former African Sun chief executive and businessman, Dr Shingi Munyeza proffered a mixed bag of advice to government, some of which sound decent while others have no place in our economy. It was not a head on as some papers reported. Therefore, government should sift through the paper with a view to picking ideas that are compatible with the national vision.
Dr Munyeza advised government to, among others, cut its expenditure, commercialize some of the state owned enterprises, move into the Rand Union and revisit indigenization laws. He also expressed his reservations on the introduction of bond notes.
The need to cut on government expenditure cannot be overemphasized. Dr Munyeza did not invent a wheel on this one. That call has been on the lips of everybody with a modicum of economic appreciation. It is also the same prescription that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave to Zimbabwe. So government has a number of measures at its disposal which it can take to cut its expenditure without necessarily engaging in a deliberate retrenching exercise as suggested by the businessman.
Zimbabwe has to rid itself of bloated institutions such as parliament and cabinet which are some of the most bloated in the continent. The number of members of parliament is not commensurate with the population of Zimbabwe. With a population of not more than 14 million, the august house has a total of 350 parliamentarians, some of whom, especially in urban areas, are duplicating duties of councilors. It is not known if the people are being represented better than in 2000 when they were represented by just 150 MPs. There are countries that have bigger economies and population but are represented effectively by a small parliament.
So is our cabinet. There are ministries that can be merged. For instance, we can just have one ministry responsible for the country's education as a whole. This ministry can take charge of the country's culture, sports and the psychomotor aspects of our children. Not to say the unbundling is not good but it is the timing that is worrisome.
The eradication or reduction of corruption can also reduce government expenditure. The case in point is that of Zesa holdings where the Minister of Energy and Power Development directs Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Zimbabwe Transmission and Distribution Company (ZTDC) to hire his cronies' company for media campaigns when there is a whole internal public relations department that is drawing full salaries. Hopefully the Public Sector and Corporate Governance Act will be able to deal with the scourge of corruption within the public sector.
The parastatals are draining the fiscus instead of being sources of government funding. On top of that, the executives of these government enterprises draw obscene salaries and perks. It is strange that one can see state of the art fuel guzzlers parked at the bay of a dying parastal. The turnover at these parastatals is not even enough to pay these executives and their employees. This is the reason why workers at some of these entities have gone for months without salaries. Do we really have to keep such people or even these loss making parastatals?
That's far this writer agrees with Dr Munyeza. The randification issue he talked about is a non starter. I would prefer a regional independent currency in the mold of the European Union's Euro. Rand is South Africa's currency and its adoption as a regional currency, as many suggest, will see the South African Minister of Finance being the regional minister who will control monetary policies of the region. As Zimbabweans, we need our sovereignty.
Dr Munyeza added his voice to the chorus of resistance to the introduction of bond notes. So much has been written and said about the rationality of introducing bond notes. We expect enlightened business people like the learned doctor, to separate emotions from real issues for the sake of national interest. Who knows, may be the alcohol selling pastor was a beneficiary of the system that the bond notes seek to end.
Dr Munyeza advised government to, among others, cut its expenditure, commercialize some of the state owned enterprises, move into the Rand Union and revisit indigenization laws. He also expressed his reservations on the introduction of bond notes.
The need to cut on government expenditure cannot be overemphasized. Dr Munyeza did not invent a wheel on this one. That call has been on the lips of everybody with a modicum of economic appreciation. It is also the same prescription that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave to Zimbabwe. So government has a number of measures at its disposal which it can take to cut its expenditure without necessarily engaging in a deliberate retrenching exercise as suggested by the businessman.
Zimbabwe has to rid itself of bloated institutions such as parliament and cabinet which are some of the most bloated in the continent. The number of members of parliament is not commensurate with the population of Zimbabwe. With a population of not more than 14 million, the august house has a total of 350 parliamentarians, some of whom, especially in urban areas, are duplicating duties of councilors. It is not known if the people are being represented better than in 2000 when they were represented by just 150 MPs. There are countries that have bigger economies and population but are represented effectively by a small parliament.
The eradication or reduction of corruption can also reduce government expenditure. The case in point is that of Zesa holdings where the Minister of Energy and Power Development directs Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and Zimbabwe Transmission and Distribution Company (ZTDC) to hire his cronies' company for media campaigns when there is a whole internal public relations department that is drawing full salaries. Hopefully the Public Sector and Corporate Governance Act will be able to deal with the scourge of corruption within the public sector.
The parastatals are draining the fiscus instead of being sources of government funding. On top of that, the executives of these government enterprises draw obscene salaries and perks. It is strange that one can see state of the art fuel guzzlers parked at the bay of a dying parastal. The turnover at these parastatals is not even enough to pay these executives and their employees. This is the reason why workers at some of these entities have gone for months without salaries. Do we really have to keep such people or even these loss making parastatals?
That's far this writer agrees with Dr Munyeza. The randification issue he talked about is a non starter. I would prefer a regional independent currency in the mold of the European Union's Euro. Rand is South Africa's currency and its adoption as a regional currency, as many suggest, will see the South African Minister of Finance being the regional minister who will control monetary policies of the region. As Zimbabweans, we need our sovereignty.
Dr Munyeza added his voice to the chorus of resistance to the introduction of bond notes. So much has been written and said about the rationality of introducing bond notes. We expect enlightened business people like the learned doctor, to separate emotions from real issues for the sake of national interest. Who knows, may be the alcohol selling pastor was a beneficiary of the system that the bond notes seek to end.
Source - Rufaro Mufundirwa
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