HARARE – The MDC has released its economic blueprint – which also forms the party election manifesto – vowing to stimulate economic growth if it wins the 2008 elections.
The party says it will ask creditors to reschedule Zimbabwe’s crushing foreign debt if elected to power. The moratorium would give the troubled economy some breathing space and free vital resources for development programmes.
The MDC, which puts economic recovery top of its priorities’ list, pledges to restore macroeconomic stability by reducing government borrowing on the domestic market, eliminating unbudgeted expenditure and reducing government ministries.
“The MDC will initiate negotiations to reschedule external debt, seek debt forgiveness and swap domestic debt for external debt. Swapping domestic for longer-term external debt will give the economy more breathing space and release resources tied into debt servicing for development,” the party pledges in its programme for change released ahead of the elections.
An MDC government will set up a land commission comprising all interest groups to spearhead the resolution of the perennial land problem. The commission will acquire between six and seven million hectares of land for resettlement through the acquisition of underutilised land, derelict and multiple-owned land already identified and designated for the purpose and all corruptly-gotten land.
Land ownership, Zimbabwe’s oldest conflict, triggered the country’s 1970s war of independence and now threatens the sickly economy as former war guerrillas seize productive white-owned farmland and disrupt farming, the mainstay of the economy.
The MDC said not less than eight percent of the national budget would be committed to the setting up of a revolving fund to support land reform while a new land tax and donations from stakeholders and international donors would raise more resources.
“Land is a national people’s asset and a productive asset,” the MDC said.
Apart from the budget allocation granted to land reform, the MDC said it would plough more public resources into the country’s crumbling health and education sectors.
The MDC, which in September voted with the ruling party to support piecemeal amendments to the constitution, said it would embark on a transparent and all-inclusive constitution making process. Other key pledges made by the MDC, launched in 1999 by Zimbabwe’s labour leaders, include promises to curb sweeping presidential powers enjoyed by incumbent Robert Mugabe.
The MDC says it will also set up an anti-corruption unit to deal with widespread corruption, especially in the public service. – Chief reporter
Post published in: News