Parties urged to accept existence of sanctions

VP Nkomo and PM Tsvangirai made the remarks while officially launching the 2012 Government Work Programme (GWP) in Harare yesterday.
The GWP is a comprehensive plan guiding the implementation of national programmes by ministries.
VP Nkomo underscored the need for collective wisdom and shared vision in the implementation of the GWP.
He singled out continued existence of sanctions as a threat to the successful implementation of the GWP.
PM Tsvangirai oversees the implementation of the GWP in his capacity as the chairperson of the Council of Ministers.
VP Nkomo said: “I am aware of bottlenecks that have affected the implementation of the GWP including sanctions imposed by Britain and its allies. Let us accept reality and face it together.”
He, however, said he had confidence that lessons drawn from the 2011 GWP “would prove to be an asset in this year’s programme”.
VP Nkomo said the GWP must be guided by a comprehensive economic blueprint and should be a tool for the attainment of broad-based economic growth.
“The GWP should also be able to attract buy in from other stakeholders,” he said.
VP Nkomo urged transparency, accountability and co-ordination in the implementation of programmes.
During plenary, the PM blamed the current size of the Cabinet saying it was too big and unsustainable to manage.
“A Cabinet of 38 ministers is not sustainable but that is what we got. In future such a Cabinet would not be considered. I think it’s because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Resources are spread thinly because of the size of Cabinet,” PM Tsvangirai said.
In his earlier address, PM Tsvangirai said co-ordination and integration of Government programmes could be made easier if every ministry developed achievable plans.
“The formulation of the 2012 Government Work Programme critical path targets was guided by the Medium-Term Plan and the recently announced 2012 national budget. This process ensures that we are in line with our long-term trajectory as well as living within our means,” PM Tsvangirai added.
He said it was imperative to harness all efforts in a collaborative manner if targets set out in the GWP were to be achieved.
PM Tsvangirai said success could only be achieved if ministries generated realistic, attainable and measurable targets.
“Collaborative effort means the silo mentality among ministries should come to an end. We will not achieve anything if we work on our own and the idea of clusters is to identify those cross- cutting issues for better implementation among ministries.
“Linkages between the Medium-Term Plan, the GWP and the budget should give us a sense of focus in the delivery of efficient services to the people of Zimbabwe. Alignment of the GWP, MTP and the budget creates a sense of co-ordination in the management of Government programmes,” he said.
PM Tsvangirai said his office will prioritise its oversight role over formulation and implementation of all Government policies and programmes.
“In the spirit of accountability, I will be publicising all monitoring and evaluation reports to our citizens through Parliament as a way of promoting transparency and accountability.
“I will ensure that I update the people, through their elected leaders in Parliament on how we will be faring.
“The performance of ministers as reflected by their failure or success in implementing agreed Cabinet positions and critical path targets will be made public. Going forward, ministers are hereby encouraged to make their submissions of the monthly GWP implementation progress reports to the office of the Prime Minister to account for the resources that they are receiving from Treasury,” he said.