“Achieving a per capita income of $3 500 by 2030 is only possible if everyone takes responsibility to commit to the dignity of hard work and in this Parliament, we must work to enforce that.
“I want to challenge this House to be able to come up with development models that are consistent with our situation. China, for example, was able to move 300 million people out of poverty in 30 years. Something no other country has done in the history of the world and we need to learn from this case study.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, my heart bleeds to learn that more than 90% of our health care budget is funded by American and European tax payers. This confirms that as a country, we are sitting on a time bomb in as far as our health care sector is concerned.
“These statistics should inform this House that we have a huge gap to fill in the sustainable development agenda and that this House has a responsibility to ensure that Zimbabwe is able to fund its own health care system.
“We cannot sit in this House and watch as if all is in order when our kingdom is in this burning state. I want to remind this House that because of the growing financial challenges in most parts of the world, it is not surprising to wake up in the morning and only to be told that there is no single medicine in all our health care facilities.
“During his inaugural speech, our President spoke of developing a market based economy. This is quite encouraging because markets should be our hope and not aid.
In her book, Dead Aid, Dr. Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian national, revealed that aid had failed many African countries in a big way. Our governments have been too reluctant for too long, thinking that aid income is permanent income.
“An elected government has the duty to deliver public goods like health care, education, security and infrastructure to all its citizens. I want to implore this House to expeditiously look at ways of creating a sustainable health care system in Zimbabwe.
“Presenting at a world economic forum, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda spoke of the need of African countries to concentrate on the markets as opposed to aid. He said that markets are neutral and aid is political. This is what we need to take note of as Parliamentarians.”
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