Chronicle
By Busani Ncube and Discent Bajila
27 March 2010
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai recently made an interesting revelation about the status of our political leadership.
Addressing his party supporters at Glamis Stadium in Harare in his capacity as the president of MDC-T, he said about his councillors: “Vamwe venyu makange musina kana boots, nhasi makufamba nemota six six (some of you could not afford shoes, now you are driving six cars each). This is indeed an informative statement on the calibre of people that the elections make us entrust with our future and our unborn children.
Failure to possess a pair of shoes is a reasonable symbol that you are completely incapable of managing your own affairs.
The outcome of the municipal elections was, according to the Prime Minister, such that people who are supposed to be in charge of housing, health, environment, road construction and other local governance issues are men and women who cannot even manage their individual affairs.
This is disaster but at a smaller magnitude compared to what could have happened if such people were deployed into Parliament. The final sad outcome of such an issue is that these people become candidates for selection into Cabinet.
Most of our MPs are voted for because of the parties that they belong to, not because of any form of expertise that they have exhibited or gained anywhere. There is no need in this story to give examples of known MPs who are good examples of what an MP should not be in terms of competence.
Government departments are the most important institutions for service delivery and should thus be run by experts, both at ministerial and permanent secretary level.
Enemies of development might call this meritocracy but reality on the ground shows that someone ought to be an expert in a field to run it and this expertise can be acquired either through academic pursuits and/or management experience.
Some may argue that the permanent secretary is the only one who should be an expert but this is a serious fallacy that we should all collectively disabuse ourselves of.
All is well with having an expert permanent secretary but all is unwell with having a non-expert minister because the relationship between a minister and a permanent secretary can be likened to that of a bus driver and a conductor.
There is nothing wrong about the conductor having a driver’s licence but it is a must for the driver to have it. The only thing compulsory for both is that they must know the route.
Problems that emanate from deploying people without experience in a particular field are manifested in the Ministry of Water Resources and Infrastructural Development.
The Minister responsible is Samuel Sipepa Nkomo who has vast experience in accounting and pensions management. He also had a stint with media house, the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe.
Minister Nkomo has no known history in civil engineering and/or water management. He is simply an accountant experienced in entering figures out of other people’s works. This is why there is not much he has done in his ministry more than entering or adding extra terms to existing names.
He added or entered the word “National” to the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and a “T” to the Shangani Dam — giving us National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and Tshangani Dam as the only changes ever seen in his ministry since his appointment.
In simple terms, Minister Nkomo is an expert, yes — but in fields other than water resources and infrastructure development.
There is nothing these writers have personally against Minister Nkomo but there is a lot these writers have against his deployment into that critical ministry and the general principle of having MPs as ministers. These are the basic socio-economic arguments against the issue.
The legal arguments are premised on the principle of separation of powers, which dictates that there are three arms of state, namely the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive and a usually forgotten arm, the Press.
The principle further states that each of the arms should monitor all the others and vice-versa. Closer to this case, the Legislature consists of all Members of Parliament regardless of how many chambers a parliament has.
On the other hand the executive in the Zimbabwean case is made up of the Presidency, the Premiership and all the Ministers, excluding permanent secretaries who are usually hired as assistants to ministers or just a technical team.
This clearly shows that there are certain individuals who are part of the two arms of State – the executive and the legislature – and it lies in the wisdom (or lack of it) of the current constitution in Zimbabwe and other parts of the world that the executive is supposed to monitor its activities when it resurfaces as a sub-set of the legislature.
Simply put, it is difficult to run or to effectively uphold the principle of separation of powers when you have certain individuals belonging to both the executive and the legislature.
Furthermore having ministers as MPs makes them super MPs with more powers than their colleagues who are elected out of a similar process by many, at times the same electorate.
Serious imbalances in parliamentary debates are created as many non-Minister MPs get to be called ordinary MPs and hence struck by an inferiority complex.
Some of these people are actually elected by very few individuals but they become super MPs simply because they have been appointed ministers.
For example Minister Sipepa Nkomo got slightly above 2 000 votes in Lobengula House of Assembly constituency in Bulawayo, but is now a super MP, far more superior to Gabriel Ndebele who won by more than 10 000 votes in Matopo South constituency in Matabeleland South.
This is a clear example of the superiority complex problems and status disparities that dog our legislature.
There are many ministers we can cite that are not qualified to be in ministerial offices that they hold but are very qualified elsewhere.
A simple example is of lawyers like David Coltart and Tendai Biti who are in the ministries of Education and Finance respectively.
And there are also many well-placed ministers like the Justice and Legal Affairs and the Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs led by Patrick Chinamasa and Advocate Eric Matinenga respectively.
Strangely, there are other ministers and deputy ministers with little or no academic qualifications that have to do with their day-to-day jobs. This is dangerous for economic recovery and service delivery to any intended beneficiaries.
Our input to the nation is that an ideal situation will be to have ministers appointed by the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe on merit after proof of expertise through curriculum vitae and recommendations from corporate bodies like the Institute of People Management in Zimbabwe, Law Society of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, the Institute of Bankers in Zimbabwe and many others.
These should be from out of Parliament so that they can be full-time ministers rather than the current scenario where some individuals double as full-time ministers and full-time MPs.
Appointing people from outside Parliament has worked before, for example commissioners who are chosen on merit and after serious consultative processes – and this has been done since time immemorial and recently by the inclusive Government.
We implore Zimbabweans at this juncture to work hand in glove during the oncoming constitution-making process to make proposals to the effect that our laws should be revamped to make sure that our MPs do not become Ministers – for as long as they are not qualified to handle the jobs at hand.
While there are no easy precedents to cite in this case, it is however worth noticing that in neighbouring South Africa and United States of America, some ministers are not MPs but are hired technocrats on certain fields.
Even going further, we urge the nation to make it a hard and fast law that any person who desires to be a presidential candidate in our fatherland should have at least a degree in any field.
This will help in nation-building and brand creation for future generations and the level of competence will be high compared to elevating an academic dwarf to the highest office in the land.
This is not to negate the fact that there are a lot of wise men like President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma of South Africa who recently confessed that he was educated in Nkandla Village where he comes from, and not at any university but ironically has been voted Africa’s best President.
The feat achieved by President Zuma, inspiring as it is, must not however be a roadblock to beginning a new era and a new type of leaders in our fatherland. Indeed there is neither harm nor crime in starting a good deed.
A great scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” As Zimbabweans we must leave a trail and the hour is now.
Busani Ncube is a freelance journalist and Discent Bajila is a youth activist based in Bulawayo.