MUTARE– Civic society organizations under the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Nango) banner are developing an alternative critique of the Transitional Stabilization Plan (TSP).
By Donald Nyarota
NANGO executive director, Leonard Mandishara, said organisations under their banner have started holding national grassroots sensitization programmes on the TSP as they develop a critique of the government’s policy aimed at stabilizing the economy which is currently in a free-fall mode.
Mandishora said the civic society will review the implementation and and progress on the TSP on its part as a watchdog to make sure the government is held accountable.
“We are raising awareness and sensitize CSOs on the Transitional Stabilization Program, one of the key roles of civic society is to complement government and to this end, we are building the capacity of our members to effectively contribute towards the national development discourse.
“As civil society, we are taking the responsibility of reviewing the progress that the TSP is making. The government launched its own model of reviewing the the TSP, but as NGOs, we are developing an alternative report assessing implementation and progress made so far.
“As civil society, we play a key watchdog role, so if we are not effectively fulfilling that role in terms of oversight, it means that the government may relax in terms of carrying out its duties and responsibilities,” he said.
Mandishara said as of now, the TSP is relegating key fundamental indicators of development to the periphery. before adding that government must make sure that its development plans ring fence the socio-economic rights of the citizens by allocating resources.
“Some of the key fundamentals that are important to sustain growth and development of the country have to do with the progressive realization of economic, social and governance rights of the general citizenry.
“If the document (TSP) is not making a deliberate ploy to address those gaps and challenges that are in existence on the economic, social and political rights, it means that they are not going to find requisite priority.
“It’s one thing to come up with national develop programs but it is also another thing to then allocate resources to make sure that those aspirations are realized, even in the 2020 budget there are no funds allocated towards fundamental rights issues of the community,” he said.
Joseph Kauzani Manicaland, NANGO regional coordinator, said civil society role is complementary to government’s development strategy by ensure that its policies are pro-poor and inclusive.
Kauzani said CSOs are not there to challenge government but to push for the protection of vulnerable members of the society.
“We are there to complement government to ensure that the people know what programs are being implemented by the government, as well as ensuring that we play a watchdog role in terms of implementation of government programs.
“We cannot do anything without having pro-poor policies and institutions which carry out their duties without fear or favour and equity in distribution of resources to ensure the enjoyment of socio economic rights,” he said.
