adminNgoni Dapira Post Correspondent–
MANICALAND provincial heads of Government, legislators, scholars and civic society have called for the immediate address of rising graft and mis-governance cases in the country in both public and private sector. This was highlighted during a corporate governance seminar for Manicaland provincial leadership organised by Africa Universityin collaboration with the office of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Manicaland at the university last Saturday.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, said the modern world was increasingly becoming complex and challenging, a reason why it was important to prepare public leaders for optimal managerial performance orientation.
She said graft and mis-governance cases were on the increase countrywide, especially in the public sector, calling for the immediate address of the growing concern.
Cde Chimene did not mince her words on her anti-corruption drive in the province. She warned unprofessional civil servants that she would not hesitate to sack rogue elements who hinder service delivery in Government.
“I want Manicaland to grow during my time and I do not want people to blame me if the province under-develops, so I expect the best from everyone. I have to rely on all of us pulling together with everyone contributing to the development of our province.
“This vision in my view will unlock the potential of each one of us and even encourage other stakeholders to come on board and embrace public-private partnerships for the development of the province,” she said.
Africa University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Munashe Furusa, said developing public competencies and capacities was one of the many tasks that should be fostered by institutions of higher learning in partnership with ministries of Government.
“This helps in developing reservoirs of knowledge, skills and ideas that governments can harness and productively utilise to serve the public better. As Africa University, we aim to build a world-class university for leadership development and support Government initiatives like Zim-Asset. We need to find ways of helping each other develop these capacities so that you become better and efficient leaders for our province and country irrespective of political affiliation. As a Pan-African institution we also believe when you invest in us you invest in Africa,” said Prof Furusa.
AU lecturer, Dr Solomon Mungure, said governance should be a mechanism which ensures development and not the other way round in the context of most developing countries where corruption is rife in government.
“If professionalism actions are not consistent with service delivery it becomes mis-governance. Our institutions may be fixed but we need to bring in frameworks for improvement on governance, which has been the missing link resulting in the increase of graft cases throughout the country,” said Dr Mungure.
AU director of Peace, Leadership and Governance, Prof Pamela Machakanja, called for goal oriented leadership with footprints on the ground.
She said most blueprints were talk shops with no action on the ground.
Several legislators present complained about road blocks being too many on the highways, citing it as mis-governance by police. Mutasa South legislator, Cde Irene Zindi called on the provincial Joint Operations Committee to seriously act on graft cases.
Cde Zindi also called for clearness on the number of roadblocks which should be on highways. She said there should be check and balances on tickets issued on motorists as some motorists were being charged more than one ticket for the same offence on the same day, which was fuelling corruption.
Online Reporter