adminBusiness Correspondent
AFFIRMATIVE Action Group chief executive officer Dr Davison Gomo bemoaned the lack of coherent policies in the slow uptake of economic turnaround strategies under the new economic dispensation of indigenisation in the country.
Dr Gomo said this during the Manicaland Business Indaba organised by the National Defence College Course 3 of 2014 held in Mutare recently.
Dr Gomo said Government should focus on how best to deliver and put in place consistent policies that steer sustainable development under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation economic blueprint.
“In our trade and industrial policies, why buy things we can produce locally? We leave loopholes in our policies and allow the dumping of goods we can produce locally . . .
“Meanwhile, we talk about empowering youths and women. But how do we do this by importing?
“We have a corporate governance manual, but people were abusing their powers which led to the collapse of most of our parastatals. There is need to have consistent policies that are in sync to achieve economic turnaround,” said the AAG boss.
Dr Gomo said President Robert Mugabe in his preface in the Mid-Term Plan (2011-2015) clearly highlighted the need to maintain macro-economic stability and restore the economy’s capacity to produce goods and services competitively.
He added that in the preface, the President also said empowering people to fully participate in the economy was key to achieving economic turnaround.
The AAG boss said this was nonetheless being contradicted through some policies which were not coherent to advance the national ‘‘umbrella’’ policy, which is the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy.
Dr Gomo added that Zimbabwe was a rich nation endowed with vast natural resources, but conversely no meaningful development had come out of its infinite resources.
“Despite us being a rich nation with infinite natural mineral reserves, Zimbabwe is not in the 2014 World Economic Forum Top 10 (Africa) most competitive economies in the world or Top 10 Africa’s fastest-growing cities for millionaires.
“We are not even in the Top 10 list of Africa’s richest businesspeople, so this speaks volumes about where we are and where we should aim to go as a nation when we talk about meaningful development and economic growth,” said Dr Gomo.
Online Reporter