Kasukuwere setting the pace

Chido Chikuni Correspondent
The recent dismissal of two Gweru councillors, Albert Chirau (Ward 11) and Moses Marecha (Ward 5) by Local Government, National Housing and Urban Development Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, is a positive move which must be applauded.

It is reported that the two Gweru councillors were found guilty of corruption and abuse of council funds.

Corruption is a major obstruction to development in any given organisation or country’s economy.

All Government officials who are guilty of corrupt activities should not only be expelled from work, but should be put behind bars.

This will assist in reducing levels of corruption in all government departments.

It is a fact that most urban councillors are from the opposition political parties.

The two expelled Gweru councillors are said to be Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T) members.

The reason behind their corrupt behaviour could be sabotage.

Remember, their leader Morgan Tsvangirai, once stated at a rally that he wanted to ‘escalate crisis’ as a way of forcing regime change.

It is known that most MDC-T councillors are in power for self enrichment.

They consider their interests first, leaving people’s interest behind.

People who are against government policies should certainly be shown the exit door.

The investigations into corruption that were done in Gweru should also be done in all urban councils.

Perpetrators of corruption should be uprooted before the pandemic spreads all over.

They say corruption is a “disease like cancer” which if not detected in time will spread “its malignancy” in the polity of the country.

Minister Kasukuwere started well in his ministry by removing rotten and dirty elements that undermined government business.

It is also interesting that illegal vendors, who were disrupting business in the central business district (CBD), were also relocated to designated areas. Cde Kasukuwere should be commended for a job well done!

Therefore, all the Ministers in different ministries should take a leaf from Minister Kasukuwere in order to fight corruption.

There should be sanity in all ministries.

The effects of corruption do not affect one department or ministry, but affect the entire country.

Reports have it that in Kenya, all government officials who were named in an ongoing corruption probe were ordered by that country’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta to leave office.

In that way, Cde Kasukuwere’s stance to expel corrupt councillors shows that Government is concerned about corruption.

One of the major effects of corruption is failing to meet the set objectives of the economic blue print, Zim-Asset.

In 2014, ZANU-PF managed to expel some of the corrupt government officials belonging to the Mujuru cabal.

So, expulsion from public office is not about which political party you belong to, but about failing to meet the demands of Government policies.

It is imperative that local authorities and parastatals audits that are done, especially by the Auditor General, Mrs Margret Chiri, acted acted on.

Some officials in government and council abuse state funds but no action is taken against them.

Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, once noted that parastatals should contribute about 40 percent of the gross domestic product.

So if corruption is left to spread in Government departments economic growth will certainly be compromised.

It is also pleasing that the Politburo has mandated Minister Kasukuwere to handle the issue of all illegal land barons especially in urban cities.

Most of these illegal land barons have been milking cash from poor desperate citizens without offering them stands.

Some of them were also abusing ZANU PF’s name, saying the illegal housing cooperatives were under ZANU-PF.

Minister Kasukuwere is best known as a man of action, transparency will soon prevail on this matter of housing land.

All illegal land dealers should be sent to jail if found guilty.