Back to Index
New
Cabinet Reshuffle far from meeting people's expectations
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition
February 11, 2004
We wish to register
our disappointment at the new Cabinet reshuffle by President Robert Mugabe.
We are perturbed that the new cabinet reshuffle does not show any commitment
on the part of government to resolve the ever-deepening economic and political
crisis in the country.
Apart from the recycling
of Ministers, especially in such crucial ministries like Foreign Affairs,
Agriculture, Health and Higher Education, there is total disregard of
peoples’ concerns which were captured by the Constitutional Commission
appointed by President Mugabe in 1998.Zimbabweans have said they do not
want a huge cabinet as this puts a strain on the national coffers.
When they were giving
evidence to the Constitutional Commission, the people said there is no
need for deputy Ministers but to our utter disgust the deputy ministers
have been brought in again and furthermore Governors for Harare and Bulawayo
have been appointed.
We as Crisis Coalition
maintain that Zimbabwe is not supposed to have a cabinet as huge as 24
ministers, 10 governors and nine deputy ministers. What we fear is that
ministers, their deputies and provincial governors perform the same functions.
This duplication of functions is also between the provincial governors
and the provincial administrators. It makes little sense, if any that
there can be a Minister of Agriculture and another one for Lands and Land
Reform. The same can be said of Ministries of Education, Higher Education
and Science and Technology, which could have been collapsed into one ministry.
Although the appointment
of the Cabinet is the President’s prerogative, we are of the view that
appointments to public office must be reflective of the people’s aspirations.
Instead of expediting the process of the appointment of an Independent
Anti-Corruption Commission, the President appoints a Minister who is answerable
to him. We need an independent anti-corruption watchdog that is not answerable
to the President but to Parliament.
Crisis in Zimbabwe
is a grouping of civil society organisations and coalitions whose vision
is a democratic Zimbabwe.
Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe
fact sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|