PM's full speech at Cabinet swearing in

Director of ceremonies, Your Royal Highnesses, Chiefs, My colleagues, Cabinet ministers, Your Excellencies, Members of the diplomatic corps, Your lordship chief justice, Honourable attorney general,

Hon. Presiding officers and honourable members of both houses of Parliament, Regional administrators, Mayor of Mbabane and Manzini, Leaders of the private sector, Secretary to Cabinet, Principal secretaries, Senior government officials, Honoured guests, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

1. Introduction

1.1 On behalf of His Majesty’s government, I welcome all our esteemed guests. We are honoured that you have joined us to witness the new Cabinet as it meets its last constitutional requirement of taking an oath for due execution of office.

1.2 I feel humbled and sincerely honoured to have been called upon by His Majesty the King and ingwenyama to lead his government as the 10th prime minister of our great kingdom. I am fully aware that the position comes with great responsibilities.

1.3 His Majesty has stated that government service as similar to a relay. In this regard, I recognise the contribution of previous prime ministers and Cabinet ministers who have served since independence 40 years ago. In this vein, I single out the previous government which was led by the right honourable Absalom Themba Dlamini. We thank them for their positive contribution in the development of our kingdom.

1.4 We are fully aware of the task before us as members of His Majesty’s Cabinet to fulfill this important national assignment. We need to work as a team in order to promote political, social and economic development of our country.

1.5 I wish to appeal for cooperation between Cabinet, the civil service and all organs of His Majesty’s government and the nation at large.

1.6 As members of His Majesty’s Cabinet, we have been called upon to contribute to the meaningful and sustainable development of our country. His Majesty explicitly highlighted the challenges the country is faced with. He indeed captured the wishes and suggestions of the Swazi people during numerous consultations.

1.7 Khe King and Ingwenyama has mandated Cabinet to address these challenges without fail in order to make the life of the nation better and promote peace and stability in the country. He called upon all of us to dedicate ourselves to national duty with integrity, resilience, truthfulness, and honesty.

2. Cabinet ministers should uphold their oath of office and commit themselves to hard work.

2.1 Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me take this opportunity to remind my Cabinet colleagues that, the position of a Cabinet minister requires service to the nation, due diligence to duty, respect and allegiance to His Majesty as enshrined in our oath of office.

2.2 In order to make a smooth transition from the previous Cabinet we need to look at ongoing programmes and projects in our respective ministries. The rationale behind this is to make sure that there is continuity in government business.

2.3 We shall set targets, time frames and benchmarks for ourselves and draw strategies for achieving our desired results.

2.4 The nation shall recall that His Majesty spoke at length about co-operation not only within my Cabinet colleagues, but also with all sectors of our economy. I am aware that civil servants are an integral part of our success. We shall motivate our civil service to perform efficiently in order to promptly deliver the services required by our citizens.

3. His Majesty’s mandate to Cabinet and the nation at large.

3.1 Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

(I) Our country has a huge problem of tackling and rehabilitating the broken health care system. Tomorrow I shall lead some Cabinet ministers to visit health institutions in Siteki and Manzini. We shall investigate how we can improve our delivery of services in the health sector. His Majesty’s government will put sufficient resources both human and financial to this sector.

(Ii) The country is also faced with the challenge of producing enough food for every household in the country. We shall review and where necessary implement the recommendations of the agriculture summit that was held in Manzini last year.

(Iii) Estimates are that over 60 percent of our population live below the poverty line. His Majesty’s government is committed to reduce poverty in the country by half by 2015 as stated in the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs). We shall soon implement the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

(Iv) Water remains a precious resource, but I am aware that some parts of our country especially the Lowveld have continued to experience water deficiency. Government will continue to meet the challenge to provide clean water, especially for our rural communities.

(V) Social welfare remains a big challenge and it cuts across all members of our society. We need to have clear guidelines of rendering social services to the populace efficienlty and promtly.

The issue of social services is further compounded by the hiv/aids epidemic. The number of vulnerable groups has increased and continues to rise on a daily basis. As we recognise the importance of social welfare, we shall take action to streamline its operations.

(Vi) As indicated in our constitution we need to take the required services to be close to where people live. We shall effectively and efficiently operationilise government’s Decentralisation Policy.

(Vii) Corruption remains a cancer that hinders economic growth globally. His Majesty has charged us to tackle this problem before it undermines our national achievements. I am aware that the Anti-Corruption Act is in place. We shall provide the required resources to enable the commission to deliver and eradicate corruption.

We expect action without delay. (Viii) We further need to strengthen the security of our country. We shall consult our security chiefs to map out plans for ensuring the protection of life and property. The terrorism act shall be revisited to ensure that potential and practising terrorists and their sympathisers are dealt with firmly. Enough resources shall be provided to ensure that our security services are empowered to protect life and the property of the citizens of our kingdom.

(Ix) High unemployment continues to be of great concern to His Majesty and the nation as a whole. Government will tackle this issue head on. Job creation is important because we have a highly motivated labour force. As an immediate contribution to employment, His Majesty’s government shall fill all vacant posts in the civil service.

(X) As a developing country we have a challenge of streamlining our education system so that it addresses our needs.

We need to develop appropriate skills for the development of our country. We shall regulate education and training institutions so that they remain at par with similar institutions in the region and the world.

4. Conclusion

4.1 Your Excellencies,

distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish to sincerely thank the international community for their presence here today. We shall continue to cooperate with them as we partner in the development of our kingdom.

Let me further stress that in order for us to meet our national challenges, it will not be business as usual for all government structures. It will be indeed business unusual.

The nation expects all of us to deliver. The nation will only measure our success by making sure that their lives are improved in the shortest possible time.

4.2 As we take our oath of office in the presence of our relatives and friends the nation as a whole is looking upon us to deliver. Let us not fail them. The people have a hope for a better swaziland.

Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galations Chapter 6 verse 9 says "do not grow weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"

And second Thesalonians chapter 3 verse 13 says "as for you brothers, do not tire to do what is right".

We shall seek gods guidance to do what is right and proper at all times.

4.3 Finally i wish my cabinet colleagues all the best as they assume this national assignment of making sure that the mandate given to government by his majesty the king and the nation is implemented without fail.

4.4 May the Almighty God bless us all.

4.5 Thank you for your attention.