Change

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Designate Morgan Tsvangirai will be expected to make a Government of political adversaries set aside differences for National progress and cohesion


The unopposed passage of the Zimbabwe Constitutional Amendment No 19 (CA No 19) is a historical milestone of monumental importance in the history of the country.

Today change of great significance has happened in Zimbabwe.

The passage of the 19th patch-up to the Lancaster House Constitution, was unfortunately, steered through the House by an impostor Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa.

Be that as it may the ramifications are far reaching and will change the course of the country’s political history forever.

The Zimbabweans will for the next 2-5 years have to lick their stolen vote wounds and live under the hegemony of a compromise government made up of political formations with a divergent political philosophy beliefs and values.

It promises to be an explosive Parliamentary life for those privileged to be in the Inclusive Government Parliament provided they retain their values and beliefs and work hard to realise perceived benefits.

Caution must be exercised though that the circumstances under which the government was conceived will not evolve into how government business will be dealt with by Parliament.

First the Inclusive government is and will always be a creature of undemocratic political brinkmanship on the part of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the political insolence of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Secondly the Global political Agreement (GPA) upon which the Constitution was amended was not an electorate political initiative but a political leadership initiative the Zimbabweans knew they had limited capacity to influence but were prepared to follow if it gave them reprieve from retributive violence.

To that extent therefore Zimbabweans may have indirectly licensed daring politicians-there is no shortage of them in Zimbabwe- to resort to violent means of remaining politically relevant in future when their political fortunes are in decline.

It is a frightening precedent the nation has allowed to carry through.

The other most disturbing fundamental is the power political parties have assumed to compel Legislators to support Party initiatives ahead of independent thinking and defence of Civil liberties.

All the 184 Legislators who voted in favour of passage of CA No 19 will be the first to independently acknowledge its shortcomings and vitiation of the democratic electoral process.

They will explain that their support was not out of belief in the process leading to the amendment but rather in the hope that the passage creates for the country to be returned to electoral democracy.

The hope is buttressed by the lack of a workable peaceful alternative to guarantee electoral rights to the citizenry at present. It is possible that in future this lethargic political limitation will be overcome by the evolution of more political parties that will dilute the dominance of MDC and Zanu PF.

That will only be possible if political violence is curtailed and the rule of law made a paramount objective of the imperfect development in our country’s politics epitomised by passage of CA No 19.

Now that the Inclusive government will be constituted and taking charge of the country the situation demands more than ever before that the politicians be on the spotlight.

Zanu PF accepted the Inclusive government proposition to retain its political relevance and unwelcome hegemony.

To that end Zanu PF is expected to recycle its most trusted geriatrics into its quota of Cabinet positions.

Circumspect evaluation of actions in the Inclusive government by Zanu PF representatives must be from that premise.

The Inclusive government must guard against being lured into the narrow partisan political views held by these diehard octogenarians with a 29 year history of failure if its objectives are to be met.

Clearly the object of the MDC has been and will always be to wrestle power from Zanu PF.

Again that is a narrow partisan view that will not be achieved from participation in the Inclusive government whose tenure must be short term and key objective must remain to be creation of a level political playing field where free and fair political competition is allowed without undue interference from State armed militia.

The agenda of the Inclusive government must be limited to three key performance areas in the short term it must be in office.

The first and most compelling agenda must of necessity be the arrest and reversal of the economic malaise in the country.

This must be complimented by deliberate effort channelled towards mending fractures and yawning performance discrepancies in the Judiciary system and law enforcement pillars of governance.

In this key performance area the Legislature of the Inclusive government must play a critical and proactive role in introducing a raft of laws that will curb the rampant selective application of laws, abuse of State assets and institutions by the Executive, exclusive monopoly in information dissemination and curtailment of freedom of speech, restrictions on free political association and criminalisation of normal economic transactions.

Above all Parliament must move with the greatest speed on the Constitution rewriting promise the Inclusive government has committed itself to delivering.

The third critical agenda must be to lay foundations for the country to revive its productive capacity and disintegrating social amenities and infrastructure.

All Zimbabweans are sick and tired of unaccountable and scapegoating politicians with parabolic tummies and hunchbacks from proceeds of corruption.

They yearn for good times and reprieve from political leadership induced hardships they have endured for two decades.

It is imperative that the Inclusive government deliver them from the bondage of years of misrule by Zanu PF.

It may have been permissible in the successive Zanu PF regimes from 1980 to date to allow main government actors to crow about success in minimising the extent and speed of the decline of the country’s economic, social and political fortunes over three decades of lethargic governance by Zanu PF but Zimbabweans expect the infusion of the younger and more energetic MDC contingent into the Inclusive government to transform it into a creative and responsive government.

It is totally unacceptable of this government to proceed to govern by way of printing money and slashing zeroes.

In its 28 years of misrule Zanu PF has introduced and slashed 28 zeroes from our currency in the process creating worthless quadrilionaires.

The Inclusive government must seriously consider dispensing with critical governmental Functional Heads who are tainted with entrenched past failures in successive Zanu PF regimes.

In the leading pack must of necessity be Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr. Gideon Gono, Electoral Supervisory Commission Chairman Justice George Chiweshe, Information and publicity Secretary George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru, Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri, Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, Attorney General Johannes Tomana, All current Heads of Parastatals except Dairibord and Cotton Company.

There is nothing wrong with terminating these contracts as they were made by a defunct Government.

Those the Inclusive Government feels have something to offer can then be re-engaged by the Inclusive government and pledge loyalty and service to it.

As it is the Inclusive Government will operate with a Zanu PF loyalist secretariat in the Civil Service and they will sabotage this Government for political expediency.

It would be catastrophic if the Inclusive Government performs worse than precedent Zanu PF regimes notwithstanding the decadence it inherits from the Junta.

Our economy needs to be managed by a new generation of leaders and professionals who are not inhibited by previous records of failure.

That is the change Zimbabwe is about to witness.