The party mood in Zimbabwe continues as well as the sheer wave of anticipation over a new turn of fortunes for the better since the resignation of the country’s only known leader Robert Mugabe.
By Wilson Chipangura
The former Zimbabwe’s strongman was ousted through a fast motion military intervention process dubbed a ‘coup’ by critics which was driven under the road sign ‘Operation Restore Legacy’.
The intervention which has seen the ZANU PF party undergoing a revival and strengthening was able to bring back and re-install the fired prince-now President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa to the highest throne.
The new man in charge has received a fair share of embrace as well as suspicion due to a tainted past history but that does not stop him from being the man( whether by default or right anticipation).
In his inauguration speech, President Mnangagwa once again preached restoration of peace and pride, reconciliation, economic balancing ;stability and growth as well as indiscrimination of anyone regardless of affiliation or views which is the gospel he has been preaching since his firing as Vice President a few weeks ago.
Wow! That is a sweet melody to the ear at least for the sacred month of November.
As judgment of President Mnangagwa continues over what his plans and moves are going to be, there are some strategic posts of government that are going to receive much scrutiny as soon as the new cabinet is announced this week.
One such post is the Finance and Economic Development ministry which has been at the epic point of discussion throughout the week on different platforms by everyone.
Trully the President is going to seal his future through his cabinet choices.
People are looking forward to economic turn-around and no more days of lingering in the dire straits of poverty.
Various ranging choices have been thrown into the hat for the most strategic ministry so far and among those mentioned, there is no doubt that the name of Tendai Biti is still the leading one judging by his past tenure in which he has been credited with improving the economic fortunes of Zimbabwe for the better during the 2009 to 2013 GNU era.
The Government of National Unity period is regarded as the most ‘clovershell’ period the country has had since the turn of the millenium.
Whilst the former Finance chief is a choice together with another former minister Patrick Chinamasa, there is one man whom I believe the President knows very well that he can turn around the economy and has the brains for that too.
In as much as many a people credit Mr Biti for bringing sanity and stability into the financing sector, all that applause should be showered on the man they call Tapiwa Mashakada who was doing the horsework for the former to have a good outing even though he had his area of focus also during the GNU.
Mashakada is the man who had the brains and guts to craft short-term economic measures aimed at providing stability and acceleration which somehow worked.
The good thing is that Mr Biti being a person who holds a seemingly intellectual mind was able to embrace Hon. Mashakada’s economic robot and used it as an armoury for his carriculum vitae.
Mashakada is a known and widely regarded economic and finance expert who sits on boards of Africa Bank and World Bank panel and as such should not be overlooked for his extra-ordinary humility which he always exercise(sic) time and again.
The man is the one who was behind every calculated economic reform which all and sundry now credit to Mr Biti which obviously is not wrong either but just not excellently correct.
During the time of Biti running away or defecting from the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change led by the ailing leader Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, many a people thought the ‘big tent’ would be affected in the economic dispensation area but alas we were all proved dull as the giant fillament found his way to show his worth by churning out wise economic advises to the government time in time out, which however, fell on deaf ears of a stubborn minister in the name of Patrick Chinamasa.
This is the man who was not selfish to share his economic advises and knowledge for the sake of his country and always would offer solutions to the cash crisis problem which though found no takers.
The man was even almost near the stage of receiving a complement from the erstwhile Parliament business leader Emmerson Mnangagwa when he asked a rhetoric question over government’s reluctance to see the reason behind the worsening cash crisis and went on further to give out his idea.
This is the man, even ‘Advocat’ Biti knows it as well as Mr President.
In his bag he has said there is an economy worth 100 billion US dollars in a few days and he just needs his time to work out the wonders.
Let it be so thou art Finance Minister Tapiwa Mashakada, we need bread and butter now.
Wilson Chipangura is a Zimbabwe-born versatile author. He is also the spokesperson of the Pan-Zimbabwean Society (a non-partisan lobby group that advocates for extreme patriotism by all).
