ZimAsset under scrutiny

Economy
THE Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ) has embarked on a 12 -weeks programme on monitoring and implementation of ZimAsset, seen by the Zanu PF administration as the panacea to the country’s economic crisis.

THE Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ) has embarked on a 12 -weeks programme on monitoring and implementation of ZimAsset, seen by the Zanu PF administration as the panacea to the country’s economic crisis.

MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT The three-month programme is targeting ordinary citizens of Bulawayo.

ZimAsset is the government’s economic blueprint adopted from the Zanu PF 2013 election manifesto.

Speaking on the sidelines of a ZimAsset workshop held at Pumula North on Friday, PPRIZ director, Samukele Hadebe said ordinary citizens should have a say on policy and they should monitor its implementation.

“Ordinary citizen should play a role on all country’s policies. They should participate and influence policy formulation, vision and monitor its implementation,” Hadebe said.

“A blueprint should not end up as a plan, but should be implemented and for that to happen, ordinary citizens should have a say because if not, we will end up having unintended outcomes like what happened to Esap (Economic Structural Adjustment Programme) which failed,” he added. He said people should develop a culture of efficiency of doing business.

He said ZimAsset should have a buy-in for it to be successful.

He also said businesses cannot influence policy change, but citizens could.

Hadebe said Zimbabwe’s economic fortunes lie in the manufacturing sector.

“As long as we have not addressed the issue of productivity in the country, it means we would not have done anything. Mining alone cannot absorb all people and this is the reason why we have many imports as compared to exports,” he said.

Hadebe added that people had developed bad attitudes about ZimAsset and warned that was detrimental to the country’s development.

The organisation has conducted workshops in seven Bulawayo suburbs so far.

PPRIZ is an independent trust that is dedicated to informing and improving public policy process in Zimbabwe through objective and non-partisan policy-oriented research and analysis.