The complete debate on why Zimbabwe MPs opposed the National Competitiveness Commission Bill

Madam Speaker, if we go to the locals who are here, those Zimbabweans who have significant reserves, when they see what is happening because they are right here; in terms of the way we manage the economy, framework our business environment, and our regulatory environment, do they have the confidence that their money will not be frittered away in all sorts of issues?  I want to say this and just mention specific instances where the biggest impediments are to ease of doing business as well as to competitiveness of our economy.

I want to urge the Hon. Minister not to waste again his precious ministerial time as well as Parliament’s precious time and also the tax payers’ precious money in putting in place a Commission that as I said earlier would be there to tell us common sense that we all know.  Instead, I want to urge the Hon. Minister to utilise the existing, like my Hon. colleagues have said, the Hon. Minister to be economic with our State resources and time and utilise the existing institutions in Zimbabwe today that work to remove those impediments to competitiveness.  I also want to mention through you Mr. Speaker Sir, that I want the Hon. Minister to take a different perspective of himself and his colleagues in Cabinet.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot think of any better or bigger economic Competitiveness Commission that there can be except Cabinet itself.  The very purpose of Cabinet is to provide a policy framework that allows business not only to thrive but to survive and do well.  Mr. Speaker Sir, to the Hon. Minister through you, Cabinet is the economic Competitiveness Commission that we have.  Let us utilise it across the whole spectrum, from the financial to the infrastructure ministries, the legal environment and all those are what we already have.  The Zimbabwean tax payers are already paying for the running of that and that is the biggest APEX economic business competitiveness body that we have.

Then I will mention another one Mr. Speaker Sir.  We have an Anti-corruption Commission in this country and it is not an executive commission like what the Hon. Minister wants to appoint that will be answerable to him, and whether or not he will answer to it is something else.  The Anti-corruption Commission is a constitutional commission.  It is a commission whose power is embedded in this Constitution.  I talk about the Anti-corruption Commission because indeed, one of the biggest if not the biggest driver of business costs in this country is corruption.  It will not help us if the Hon. Minister sets up his executive Commission to tell us what we already know and to tell him what we already know and does not address the scourge of corruption.  Corruption pads at every stage of the production cycle and I would hope that the Hon. Minister really pays attention to this.  Corruption is the biggest cost driver in this economy.

Anyone who runs or tries to run a business in this economy ends up faced with costs that they cannot normally budget for.  Even in the regulatory environment when people want to obtain licences for businesses and so on.  The practice is so rampant that people who leave home from their offices to work for the Government, they are busy fleecing and trying to get money.  The business owner must actually find money to meet this.  Apart from that, it goes all along the way from the inspectorate to absolutely everything.  Corruption is eating away into the costs and it is the consumers who are actually ending up paying up for corruption.  I could go to town over that.

Continued next page

(268 VIEWS)