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Inclusive government incomplete without resolution of outstanding issues
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
April 24, 2009

The MDC is concerned that the delays by the three main political principals to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in resolving outstanding issues have created a vacuum that have left Zimbabwe without a fully constituted government.

This week, the principals Prime Minister, Hon Morgan Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe and deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara, met three times to resolve the sticking points to the GPA but failed to reach any agreement.

The MDC is deeply worried by the continued delay in resolving the pertinent but outstanding issues, which should have been resolved soon after the formation of the inclusive government on February 13 2009.

However, 70 days after the formation of the inclusive government, a fully constituted government has not been put in place thereby rendering the inclusive government not fully functional.

Critical issues that need to be urgently resolved include the appointments of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, the Attorney-General, provincial governors, ambassadors and permanent secretaries.

Also outstanding is the issue of the re-arresting of senior MDC officials Ghandi Mudzingwa and Chris Dhlamini, the swearing-in of Senator Roy Bennett as the deputy Agriculture Minister and the seizure of the telecommunications department by President Mugabe from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.

Failure to resolve the outstanding issues means that the GPA and the inclusive government have not been fully consummated. It means we have a hung and handicapped government without consensus on its bureaucracy because of the dispute over permanent secretaries as well as the swearing-in of Senator Bennett as the deputy minister of Agriculture to enable him to officially assume his duties.

One cannot be half-pregnant. We cannot have a half-government and only a resolution of the sticking points will lead to a fully constituted inclusive government. We believe as a party that brazen acts of unilateralism, unbridled stubbornness, politically motivated chaos on the farms and the failure to take decisive action on the outstanding issues pose a real threat to the life and health of the inclusive government.

The MDC hopes that when the principals meet again on the Monday, the above issues will be brought to finality and the inclusive government would start to move in one direction for the good of the country.

The people of Zimbabwe urgently need a fully constituted government in place. The people of Zimbabwe do not want half-measures. They want finality and closure to all outstanding issues so that the inclusive government begins to address critical issues such as health, education, human rights, food security and the issue of a new, people-driven Constitution.

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