admin
Technocrats have been suggested as a viable solution for underperforming ministries.
However, analysts expressed different views. Some were of the view that the law should be changed to allow the President to appoint Cabinet ministers even from outside Parliament.
Some observers however said appointing technocrats as ministers would be underutilising them.
Technocracy is a form of government under the control of experts.
Technocrats are people with technical skills or know-how in a particular field, from economics and agriculture to defence.
Unlike politicians, technocrats are qualified people in a specific field.
The technocrat wave has already visited struggling Europe following the advent of the Eurozone crisis, especially in Italy and Greece. In some of these countries non-politicians have been assigned responsibilities to carry out the painful reforms that politicians would not want to undertake on their own.
In support of technocrats, analysts said technocrats are people who put national interests above political parties interests. That is, they have no political party interests to protect and as such are bound to serve the interests of society.
Academic and political analyst Dr Ibbo Mandaza supported the idea of including technocrats as part of Government.
“The draft constitution is saying there should be seven technocrats at ministerial level. We wish that there could be more technocrats,” he said.
“The Government has failed and most of the people in Parliament are not well educated. We have witnessed corrupt ministers hence we advocate for technocracy Government.
“In Kenya there is a technocratic government. Experts are running development projects and they are developing well,” said Dr Mandaza.
He said a government of technocrats could bridge the gap between the two main competing political factions as is the case in Zimbabwe.
A lot of squabbling that is taking place in the inclusive Government is due to conflict of ideas between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations.
Russia is reportedly considered the world’s first technocratic government, when the Communist Party had to appoint a number of engineers into government who rapidly promoted the country’s economic growth during the industrialisation of the 1930s.
A Bulawayo-based lawyer, Mr Thabisa Sibanda, said technocrats were not the solution. He said hands-on people should replace underperforming individuals in government.
“Technocrats can be appointed at executive level. Permanent secretary are the best positions where they can work in. If you put technocrats to work on policy making you will be underutilising them,” said Mr Sibanda.
The majority MDC ministers are under fire for poor service delivery. These ministers include the Minister of Water Resources Management and Development, Dr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Mr Elton Mangoma who is the Energy and Power Development Minister and Mr Tendai Biti who is the Finance Minister.
Political analyst Mr Effy Ncube said the country must first address the constitution as it is hindering the appointment of technocrats. He said at the moment the law requires the President to appoint ministers from Members of Parliament and as such his selection is confined to Parliament.
“The President should be allowed to choose ministers from anywhere. Most of the MPs do not have the requisite skills to run the ministries,” he said.
Mr Ncube said technocrats were the answer to underperforming ministries.
“People should be appointed based on their areas of specialty. A lawyer cannot be appointed to be the Minister of Finance and an architect can equally not be the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity,” said Mr Ncube.
However, Professor John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, was of the other view.
He said technocrats were not the answer to underperforming ministries.
“We do have professionals in Government but they are also underperforming. Most of these ministers are good in formulas. Formula users are not relevant and technocrats tend to be too bookish,” said Prof Makumbe.
“We rather focus on hands on people. People with experience in issues to do with development should be at the helm. Technocrats cannot improve service delivery as they will be making experiments that cannot transform into reality.”
He said it was not feasible for a ministry to be staffed by technocrats.
Another political analyst Mr Pedzisai Ruhanya said technocrats were not the panacea to good governance. He said most parastatals in the country were managed by professionals but were still performing badly.
“Most Government offices are run by technocrats but the service delivery has not been that pleasing,” he said.
He said what was required was for ministries to be run transparently.
Online Reporter