Last week the media reported that a $4 billion rescue package could be in the pipeline from China.
DEJAVU with KAMURAI MUDZINGWA
Sounds like good news, but I can imagine corrupt government officials and top untouchable politicians salivating.
It is not surprising that traps are already being set to ensure that the bulk of the money does not reach its intended destination — resuscitation of the economy.
We are made to understand that the money will finance the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset).
If we are not careful, two problems will arise — the first with ZimAsset itself and the second one with our government institutions.
In the current set-up, the money will surely go down the drain.
A reading of ZimAsset reveals a worrying trend — the fact that government wants to take centre stage in the market. This is a recipe for disaster. Government should tarry a little and give private players the chance to revive the economy.
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It should just play the referee through policy and legislation to ensure that market forces play the game in a conducive environment.
It should only intervene as a player when it is absolutely necessary especially in the provision of merit goods such as electricity, water and other public services.
Government is a political animal and it would be fallacious to assume that it can transform itself into a business entity to take us out of the current economic doldrums.
It would be wise if government could channel the money to competent private investors [at reasonable interests of course].
We should desist from what has become common practice where those politically connected but with no notion of how to run a tuckshop get money and subsidies from government only to abuse these with impunity.
We have seen how this “works” in agriculture.
The proposed private-public partnership proposed in ZimAsset needs to be handled with kids’ gloves.
The government should not be the majority shareholder. Its shareholding should be more to represent its presence for monitoring.
We have seen how parastatals have failed because the government imposes political decisions where economic ones are needed.
Our government institutions are so politicised that to expect them to make sound economic decisions is akin to expecting refined diesel to ooze out of a rock. As I said earlier on, it is not surprising that sharks are already designing schemes to line their pockets from the envisaged $4 billion package [which we are made to understand may go up to $10 billion].
With weak, politicised institutions, looters and corrupt officials will have a field day.
We have seen how part of the $144 million loan facility for the rehabilitation of water infrastructure was reportedly abused to purchase luxury vehicles for Harare council officials.
We have also seen how top corrupt government officials have come to the defence of such abuse. This is characteristic of our government and quasi-government institutions.
Not only are they weak [and most lack capacity], but they are too much under the thumbs of corrupt politicians who are out to make a killing.
Without reforming these weak and partisan institutions, it would be one of the greatest economic miracles if so-called rescue packages resuscitate the economy. Sometimes it is not how much money you have, but what kind of plans you have.
There are certain fundamentals that the government should look at if it is serious about economic recovery.
The obvious one is policy consistency and the eradication of the “grabmania” syndrome currently gripping the country where the politically connected are reaping from other people’s investments.
In fact, the government might be required to clean its soiled image before it can get any rescue package from anyone.
To resuscitate the economy, we definitely need value addition on our raw materials.
This means manufacturing and it is a mystery to me how this can be achieved when there is erratic power supply and dry taps.
Generators cannot run the economy and that is fact. These are the areas government should seriously look into, but if it allows political cronies to spend money meant for waterworks rehabilitation to buy luxury cars, then all the noise about rescue packages is, to borrow William Shakespeare’s metaphor, like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing . . .
With the present set-up, what we see is not rescue packages, but a bottomless pit in the form of looters, corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
We must face reality and avoid throwing money into the bottomless pit, lest we become indebted [a colony actually] to those who give us “rescue” packages knowing fully well that we will misuse them and remain their kind of poor Lazarus.
Nothing is for free in a capitalist world.
