Harare (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has demanded that his ministers improve the manner in which they conducted Cabinet business in the New Year.
Addressing the last 2023 Cabinet session at State House on Tuesday, he expressed displeasure that Cabinet had failed to discuss some items that the ministers had proposed for consideration because of non-submission
of the relevant Cabinet Memoranda, an oversight he described as “dereliction of duty” which should not be repeated in the coming year.
“Another critical area of concern is the increasing tendency by some Ministers to table substantive matters under “Any Other Business”. This practice must stop,” he said. “Equally, the late submission of Cabinet Memoranda is retrogressive to constructive debate and to good administration, transparency, collective responsibility and
accountability. Please adequately liaise with the Chief Secretary on such matters and be guided accordingly.”
The good economic growth notwithstanding, the President urged the ministers to work harder for the achievement of impactful results in various programmes and projects and acceleration in the implementation of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) to ensure earlier attainment of the National Vision 2030 of “an empowered and prosperous upper-middle income society”.
He said Cabinet recess did not mean the complete closure of offices as government business needs not be disrupted as the ministers need to remain available to attend to issues.
“Meanwhile, I want to assure the nation that Government is closely monitoring the weather, with signs increasingly confirming the El-Nino prediction of a normal to below-normal rainfall season. Government is putting in place the necessary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the undesirable weather phenomenon,” said President Mnangagwa.
“I also wish to point out that the overriding principle of the Cabinet system is collective responsibility, which ties in well with the Whole-of-Government, Whole-of-Society Approach and our endeavor to leave no one and no place behind.”
“Recently, you also shared experiences with colleagues from the United Arab Emirates, as part of strengthening our administrative apparatus.
Bench-marking against best practices, we should therefore strive to be robust, agile, responsive and anticipatory in meeting the needs of the people as well as in responding to attendant challenges.”
The President said he was reasonably satisfied that Cabinet was able to go through most items set for the current session with the outstanding matters to be concluded as soon as work resumed in the New Year.
“Meanwhile, it is heartening to note that we completed all the Mid-Term Reports on the Third 100-Day Cycle Priority Projects, despite the changes in the nomenclature of various ministerial portfolios. This
shows the continuity inherent in Government programming under the Second Republic,” he said, and called on all cabinet members to take advantage of the break to seriously look into matters which they wish to table
during the forthcoming session.
After the ruling party’s resounding victory in the August general elections, government business continued seamlessly, testimony that the country continues to entrench constitutionalism, deepen democratic
practices and improve bureaucratic efficiencies as the country marches towards Vision 2030 guided by its development philosophy, “Nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatigwa nevene vayo. Ilizwe lakhiwa, libuswe,
likhulekelwe ngabanikazi balo”.
“While much work lies ahead; we must continuously do more in our quest to modernize, industrialize and grow our economy while improving the quality of life for our people,” he said. “Be advised that, going forward, you are called upon to regularly undertake critical and succinct self-evaluation of programmes and projects under your
portfolios, to inform focused and coordinated programming. The expectations on us to deliver are high after the new mandate to govern bestowed on us by the electorate in the August 2023 Harmonized General Elections. We must not be found wanting in this regard.”
New Ziana
