Stop tarnishing Zimbabwe's name!

By Bernard Bwoni

Is it that some opposition legislators have no awareness of the economic implications of their public utterances and negative speculation about the country as a whole? Any negative speculative statement and scaremongering forecasts have very damaging effects on the economy as a whole. Hence why you find in other parts of the world any small detail about the country will have far-reaching effects throughout the economy and often sees stock markets crashing down. The fragile Zimbabwe economy does not need these echoes of doom at the moment. Everyone is fully aware of the colossal task ahead. This is a country where a Finance Minister (Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti) would publicly declare that the country had only US$217 left in its coffers and expect the country’s image to remain unaffected.  Now Mr Biti has come out again making more unsubstantiated claims that ‘the country’s economic crisis will last another ten years’. As the First Lady rightly put it, people like Mr Biti think they know it all. But then Mr Biti has no empirical evidence to back his claim as it is mere conjecture. Everyone is aware of the economic challenges and instead of these constant echoes of doom and gloom legislators should put forward solutions. Of all countries in the world Zimbabwe has taken more negative press internally and externally than any other country since time immemorial.

Now another opposition legislator, Settlement Chikwinya told parliamentarians of the ‘precariously low’ grain reserves in the country and that it was imminent that the country would soon face starvation. He went to suggest that this looming ‘imminent starvation’ was directly linked to the country’s necessary land reform programme. A statement like this must be backed by empirical evidence for it to be taken seriously.  This is an unsubstantiated and random claim without any figures to back it and from legislators we expect more. Maize production in the country has been on the rebound and it is important to wait for the official figures so that legislators like Chikwinya can back their claims. Maize production for 2014 has had a 65% growth rate from the 2013 levels (FAO, 2014). The agriculture sector is recovering and signs are positive. So these highly opinionated speculative statements from the likes of Chikwinya are irresponsible, unfortunate, unnecessary and untimely. What is the point of creating uncertainty and panic? The general macroeconomic environment in the country has been affected by this negative speculation, the effects of the economic sanctions against the country and a number of other associated factors. As a result of the above the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe is currently under-funded, under-resourced and operating in very difficult macroeconomic environment. Legislators like Mr Biti and Mr Chikwinya need to urgently stop merely focusing on the symptoms of Zimbabwe’s economic problems and start focusing on tabling solutions.

Bernard Bwoni can be contacted on bernardbwn@aol.com/  bernardbwoni.blogspot.com