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IS THERE A PLAN NOW?

28/02/2019 00:27:00 By vusi Kunene

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“IT’S better late than never,” so they say. This is more so on what we gather; that Members of Parliament had a workshop on the budget. This is long overdue but it is a positive that it was finally done.

Congratulations to the person who thought and decided that this workshop should take place. I also commend Members of Parliament for attending for we are told that knowledge is power. Like the Members of Parliament, I am also lamenting that Cabinet was not in attendance because they are the biggest culprits in this matter. They are the biggest culprits because they are the ones who prepared the budget unilaterally and did not involve all stakeholders. They were the ones who should have been told that even civil society had to be consulted before the budget was drafted. It is the sole prerogative of Cabinet to decide what is good for the people even without consulting the people themselves.

It is common knowledge now that we have fiscal problems as a country and something has to be done. The budget is one way we can try to solve the fiscal problem. But this definitely is not the only way as a lot has to be done. My fear is do we have a clear plan now on how to overcome this problem? This is not the first time we have had this problem and we must have learnt in the past but it seems we have not learnt.

Do we have a plan of avoiding this from happening in future? Have we devised strategies on how to pull out of this quagmire we find ourselves in? What is the plan, if there is one?
Government tends to be very secretive even with information that is supposed to be publicly shared. The fiscal crisis is a problem affecting everyone in this country but the citizens are in the dark on what plan government has to solve this problem.

Strageties

Being told that we have to tighten our belts will not solve the problem. Let us be told of the strategies that will be used to pull us out. This will help us understand that indeed we have to tighten our belts. It will also help put people at ease for they can project how long the belt-tightening will be. If the plan is revealed it would also give an indication to those who are willing to assist. But as it stands, I think we do not have a clear plan as a country. If there is a plan then it is a secret of those who know it and the populace cannot support what they do not know.

I believe we need assistance to get through and the plan should be rolled out for all to know. We need some investments for the country to survive. Investors will be attracted if they know what the plans for the country to get out of the problem are. We have failed to attract investors in the past despite some efforts being made. Have we tried to identify what the problems are? If yes, who have we engaged because this is a problem that involves everyone and government should be transparent.

The problem about the huge wage bill is that it has been perennial and it seems government is failing to deal with it. This is one issue that government should be transparent on. To only say there would be voluntary exit packages for civil servants will not help because this was not successful in the past. Government should engage with all the stakeholders to find a solution about the wage bill but as long as it is still secretive and doing things without consulting stakeholders, we will achieve the same results.

Government is supposed to give out its plans to the people for everyone to know what it wants to do to solve its problems.
I have mentioned earlier that we are not experiencing this problem for the first time. This to me suggests that it is paramount that we have a clear plan, going forward, on how to avoid such problems.

The fiscal problem is causing a lot of disarray and even people’s lives are jeopardised. It is a known fact that even those who are not in government are somehow affected when it is faced with financial problems.

It is therefore wise that all people are involved in the fiscal solution. Consultations and engagements of all necessary stakeholders are necessary to come out with a strategy to avoid this calamity from happening again. Government should give the nation its plans on how it will address this problem, if there is any plan.