Times Of Swaziland: A GOOD START

A GOOD START
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The Editor on 23/11/2018 01:11:00


Comment
A government that listens to and acts on good, sound advice is worthy of our
attention and support.
The statement issued by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini in Parliament
yesterday,   committing government to cutting down on wasteful expenditure and
dealing with corruption, is encouraging.
This is what we have been waiting to hear, given that their predecessors did not
do them any favours by leaving behind a country virtually crawling on its knees
economically, flooded with a myriad of social challenges and with E0.00 in the
bank.
The PM has put his neck on the line with a big promise to fix this mess,
starting with cuts on travel expenses, stopping car rentals and putting a freeze
on tariff hikes.
A huge relief for the tax-burdened society and certainly not an easy decision,
given that the current team has to start with E0.00 in the government bank
account.
Travel allowances were the reason you could hardly find our former ministers in
office, leaving service delivery crumbling behind them as their subordinates
followed suit.
Poor management of the government fleet and fuel shortages have remained a thorn
in the taxpayers’ flesh for decades, yet nobody has been bold enough (or
interested) to take a decision on the control of the Central Transport
Administration (CTA).
As for the lack of controls in the government tendering processes, the less said
the better.
To address these concerns, the PM has tasked four committees to ensure zero
tolerance to corruption, oversee capital projects, review finance policies and
control costs which are critical areas, no doubt.
As we highlighted before, Dlamini and his team possess all the attributes
required of the positions they hold, to deliver on the task that lies before
them. If they carry on like this, we have a greater chance of becoming a proper
country again.
Most importantly, they will leave a respectable legacy, which is not what we can
say of their predecessors.
Ours is to give this team the benefit of the doubt and  join hands to see to it
that we achieve the desired goals.