Government must expeditiously engage ZIST
- Category: Politics & Governance
- Date 13-03-2022
Zimbabwe has for a very long time been
experiencing boorish governance which led to unprecedented economic
abyss coupled with gross violation of human rights and other ignoble
injustices manufactured under the guise of jealously guarding the
country's sovereignty. The country is in the grip of economic paralysis
and political untidiness due to unwillingness and insincerity by
politicians to engage in candid dialogue that will definitely scaffold
the nation for growth and stability.
Currently, the country is
witnessing too much involvement of the military in national politics and
the absolute dabbling of the same in the electoral affairs. The
opposition is crying foul describing the situation as a blow to
democracy.
Where are we going as the nation?
The country
really needs lasting solutions to the country's wide-ranging problems.
People want their voices to be heard, freedom of expression should be
guaranteed and more importantly, self-serving and destructive ideologies
should be replaced with people centred policies.
As it stands
right now, both the ruling party and the opposition do not want to be
accountable for the country's economic mess. We therefore need to find
ways of addressing our national problems collectively.
Well, I
have been giving both the ruling and opposition parties free advice on
how to turn around the economy. In my advices, I always emphasize the
need for multi-stakeholder dialogue which I believe will address many
challenges and concerns. We established a think tank, Zimbabwe Institute
of Strategic Thinking (ZIST) to foster collective problem-solving,
consensus building and interactive decision-making through
multi-stakeholder dialogue. This is the right time for the nation to
embrace a ‘hard talk' dialogue. It is therefore advisable for the
government to honestly engage ZIST to avert crises.
To attain home-grown solutions, the citizens' perspective should be considered through their inclusion in national discourses. The strength and stability of the national unity make it possible to solve many problems and strengthen national engagement. This therefore means inclusive participation is key.
As we speak, ZIST is currently mobilizing political parties, civic organizations, religious group, academics, diplomatic community and all stakeholders to attend the forthcoming multi-stakeholder dialogue. Knowing that our current challenges are being aggravated by partisan politics, we are creating an integrated and inclusive national development strategy and economic recovery. Our grassroots consultations to identify key dialogue themes are going on very well. This will result in the establishment of proper economic recovery framework and sound development policy.
This explains well the mission of ZIST and the government must expeditiously engage us.
We no longer want a scenario of contested election results. We need an independent judiciary and the legitimacy of the country's institutions must be strengthened. Corruption, ineffectiveness and political bias must be surmounted.
Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo is the Head of Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking - ZIST and he can be contacted at executivedirectorzist@gmail.com