Restore transparency, accountability in Govt

the many challenges that currently afflict the country they point to the existence of a dysfunctional public governance system that has been allowed to take root over the years. Hospitals have no adequate drugs, schools are manned by underpaid staff and have no textbooks, roads are heavily potholed and congested, stress levels in households are high because of poverty, and the list goes on and on. This is a cost the country has endured for a long time, and cannot continue to put up with.
There is an observable lack of transparency, accountability, and honesty in the way government business is being administered. Some public officials have been in Government employ for a period longer than is necessary and you wonder whether there is still any value addition they are bringing to Government business.
Others have used their long stay in Government to knit up clandestine relationships that they use to siphon State resources and conclude “deals” that benefit their persons and their kith and kin.
Some public officials have flagrantly been in the habit of using their positions and influence in Government to carve out for themselves and their relatives’ business interests in the economy. And you now find them in every sector of the economy be it in mining, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, retail sector, etc. The outrageous schemes that white supremacists used during the colonial days to seize key sectors of the economy and create monopolies that benefited their kith and kin are the same methods we see these public officials using to accrue wealth for their own benefit.
Their presence in Government today no longer has anything to do with fulfilling their public mandate, but has all to do with safeguarding entrenched personal interests.
And because of the latitude they have had over the years, it is now in their blood to engage in unbridled corruption, and loot State assets with abandon. They twist State laws, and connive with rent-seekers from outside Government to manipulate laws in order to secure unfair competitive advantage for their businesses and those of their buddies.
The politics of acrimony in the last decade became a horse upon which they rode to line their pockets using public resources. And the GNU has become their latest victim as they drool on its endless quarrels which to them provide a fertile ground to continue with their grotty desires to weave and feather their nests at the expense of public good.
The Government is a victim of greed of epic proportions. And because of that, most Government departments today are known not for the services they provide, but for the corruption endemic in their operations. People have been witnessing the pillage of State assets by those who are supposed to be their custodians, and they no longer understand whether the Government really is for them or it is a mere feeding trough for the privileged few who happen to be in Government. Never have people been so disengaged and alienated from what goes on in Government, as is now the case.
The public is witnessing not just the greed for wealth in Government, but greed for power since power has become a lever upon which wealth can be amassed with speed. People want to be in positions of power and are engaging in horrific schemes to secure that power. We are seeing comrades fighting ruthless and murderous wars against each other in order to secure that power and the truth is being deliberately bent and twisted to suit selfish individual needs.
Good public governance needs to be restored, and so is public confidence in Government business. The State needs to be unshackled from the vice-like grip of those who over the years have plundered its resources using their influential positions.
It needs to be freed from the bondage of those who have mastered the art of milking State coffers without any care for public good. Zimbabwe needs new governance arrangements anchored on transparency, accountability and honesty.
We need to restore good governance processes that will ensure the country focuses on economic growth and development. The country cannot continue to operate with a huge budget deficit, a huge foreign debt, substandard infrastructure, and with basic services such as health, transport and education in crisis.
Government should do away with governance processes that foster a dysfunctional culture, which not only condones, but also rewards, those who pursue power for personal gain. It should rid itself of a dysfunctional culture that tolerates and even encourages corruption with scant regard for public interest. Government should not condone a dysfunctional culture that facilitates the rise of economic charlatans into key Government positions, which results in questionable public policies being crafted.
The people of Zimbabwe deserve much better. We should start with at least being honest about where we are what put us in this horrendous situation, where we want to be, and what needs to be done to get us there. There is no better place to start the change in Zimbabwe’s governance processes than ridding the State of the culture of patronage and impunity.
Concerns about corruption in higher echelons of power and its impact upon decision-making processes have sapped the people’s confidence in Government business. Public governance reform should return the public to the centre of the country’s governance processes again and restore the public as the government’s chief watchdog.
Politics have taken the limelight for too long a period resulting in the relegation of economic growth and development which is key to uplifting the living standards of the people. The precursor to good government is good governance, and good public governance is marked by a positive ethic of transparency, accountability and honesty. The longer we refuse to improve the country’s governance processes, the less integrity there will be left in our national institutions.

l Bradwell Mhonderwa is the Managing Consultant of Business Ethics Centre, a Corporate Governance and Business Ethics Management firm. For feedback, phone 04-293 2948, 0772 913 875, 0712 420 090, or email [email protected]