HARARE Finance Minister Tendai Biti has described conditions under which Zimbabwes coalition government has had to operate since its formation in February as a political minefield littered with landmines meant to derail plans to restore sanity in the troubled country. Biti said the greatest challenge facing Zimbabwe at present was a balkanised coalition government where the constituent members of the new administration pursued politics of the past. President Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai joined forces to establish a coalition government 10 months ago.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai became Prime Minister under the compromise regime formed with the assistance of the Southern African Development Community following disputed polls last year.
Biti, who is from Tsvangirais party, said the new Harare regime lacked of common vision among the three parties represented in government. We have to speak with one voice and if we have a balkanized government in respect of which the government is a mirror image or an asymmetrical reproduction of the politics of the past, the politics of attrition, murder and dishonesty, then that’s a landmine, he told the latest edition of a weekly newsletter published by the Prime Ministers Office.
Another booby trap was the slow pace of political reforms, which was costing the country dearly in terms of winning over crucial Western aid to revive the economy. Hardliners in Mugabes Zanu (PF) have been working to derail the fragile unity government which they see as a threat to the patronage system they had become used to during the past decade.
They are resisting reforms such as the repeal of tough security and media laws and the roll-out of the process towards the creation of a new democratic constitution.
Biti said all parties to the power-sharing agreement which led to the formation of the unity government should comply with the guidelines and timelines with regards crucial democratisation processes like the constitutional making process. He said the booby traps could curtail and smother Zimbabwes investment potential and affect the implementation of the 2010 national budget that he presented last week.
Post published in: News