HARARE - Rarely do Zimbabweans come across a politician willing to ladle out frank and honest advice quite hard to ignore than that offered by chairperson of the parliamentary committee on industry and commerce, Ray Kaukonde to captains of industry.
Zimbabwe’s economic stagnation is not helped one bit by politicians that are bent on scoring cheap points against rivals at every opportunity instead of seeking ways in which all can pull together in one direction despite different political persuasions.
It is crucial for the nation’s development and survival to promote unity of purpose with its proven capability to rally the nation towards a better future.
The economic crisis we are confronted with needs a radical rethink, lest we sink together with those political rivals who we tend to blame for all our woes.
The nation cannot afford to continue the way it is doing at the moment.
Pulling the country forward benefits least when leaders and politicians think only in terms of competitive prestige; when politicians are more concerned with how their political unit fairs better than the others.
Economic revival demands all hands to be on board regardless how poorly political units fared in getting support from the electorate. Sensible advice should be welcome by all progressive forces.
Kaukonde does not hesitate to point out economic demands that politicians need to forget their political rivalry and affiliation in order to collectively tackle the financial and economic problems the country faces with unity of purpose.
“Let us borrow ideas from others who put people and the economy first before anything else,” Kaukonde says.
For three decades since independence in 1980, politicians have foisted an unhelpful culture of assigning blame on their rivals and opponents to mask failures on the electorate. Such a toxic environment has burdened the national psychic with a deep sense of lack of direction.
The problems seem to arise from a calibre of politicians whose survival and relevance thrives on how easily they drown constructive criticism and advice with very creative slogans that drive a regressive “we” and “them” attitude.
They find it easy to point fingers and pin blame on political opponents other than articulating plans and programmes for nation building.
In the end, the people do not benefit, the nation does not profit and everyone stands to lose.
It is time we shelve petty political differences and concentrate on ideas that will lift Zimbabwe from the tangle of economic stagnation by taking constructive advice from whatever quarter it emanates from.