Policies in most
African states are merely rhetoric, words with no action just meant to win
people towards an election, or in other circumstances might be genuine but will
be lacking much and end up being a disastrous failure benefiting only the
elite. Government research centres have come up with many policies but at times
policy formulation accounts for nothing if the execution is not fully done
according to the layout.
Steps have to be put in
place in order for African states to fully and successfully implement economic
policies that will spur growth and eradicate poverty that has haunted the
continent. The process of policy formulation has to be all inclusive and not be
a central planning project so that there will be clarity on the goals of the
policy. The people that will be tasked with the execution of the policy should
be included in the policy formulation so that they fully understand the task at
hand and be able to explain the whole policy without any contradictions which
will translate to discord. The governments should be agile in the execution of
economic policies as any negative outcome will bring about huge costs that will
further plunge the country into an economic crisis. In this course the
execution should be manned by good leaders with the requisite knowledge and
effective leadership trait that will be able to steer the ship in the right
direction. At most times lack of effective political leadership has been cited
as the biggest let down in policy execution and that has to be addressed. In
the execution process the governments have to be innovative and flexible due to
the unseen changes that might take place whether locally, regionally or
globally which might have an impact on the policy. Most governments are rigid
when it comes to adapting to change in the environment and this usually affects
the expected result.
During the process
monitoring signals should be put in place so that they can effectively track
the progress of the execution and if they are any mishaps they can be
smoothened out proactively thereby leading to a successful policy. African
countries should be results oriented and anyone they choose to lead the policy
execution should be held accountable and be able to account for each and every
dollar spent with progress made so that we can get value for the taxpayers
money spent on the policy execution. Even after the successful execution of the
policies risk analysis indicators and measures should always be performed to
maintain perfect continuity.
One country that we
will look into is Zimbabwe which has had some economic policies that have
plunged the nation into near collapse. In 1990 the country was to implement the
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme popularly known as ESAP which was
meant to avert the declining economy due to high government expenditure. In
1991 another framework was introduced the Framework for Economic Reform which
was meant to reduce support on parastatals meant to lead to commercialisation
and privatisation of these state companies. In 1998 they also introduced the
Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation known as ZIMPREST
which was a phase of the ESAP policy. In this period the country’s economy was
slowly on a downward trend with the local currency being devalued continuously
and inflation was on a rise.
We had gone back in
time just to highlight how some major policies in Zimbabwe had affected the
economy and now we have the Indigenisation act which requires foreign companies
to cede 51 percent of their shares to the locals and now there is the Zimbabwe
Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation popularly known as
ZIMASSET. The indigenisation and Empowerment act is a noble idea but it seems
as if it was not well thought of as it has chased away foreign direct
investment which the country so much needs. Also foreign companies which are in
Zimbabwe had their operations disturbed which led to some companies shutting
some scaling down on operations thereby leading to retrenchments and low
production. What has made the policy a nightmare for the government and the
country is the fact that ministers from the same ruling party have been
contradicting themselves on the articulation of this policy and that does not
give any confidence to the investors. The other fact is that there is no
continuity in the execution of this policy as the minister who firstly
introduced the policy was later shifted to another ministry thereby bringing in
someone new who also brought another view on how to execute the policy.
The president had said
they will revise some issues on the policy and this had brought confidence on
the investors as they became more eager on what conditions will be relaxed with
the German Ambassador among others welcoming the president’s remarks. From that
time the stock exchange was poised for more funds from foreign buyers but again
differing statements from the relevant authorities dampened the investors’
mood. The country is currently reeling under a 8.9 billion debt which it owes
to the IMF and World Bank with its 655 million debt it owes to the African
Development Bank being cancelled to give the country a bit of relief. Now the
ZIMASSET needs money to be fully executed but there are no funds to implement
it which means that it will be another document for the files. The other issue
about this document is that it was party campaign project and it now needs more
research and analysis to make it a national document, so that it is inclusive
of everyone regardless of party affiliation. At the moment the policies don’t
seem to be fostering growth and attracting foreign direct investment of which
the current Finance minister had noted that the country needs at least 2-3
years to put the house in order if the country has any chances of entertaining
debt relief from the IMF and World Bank and that the country should have
policies that are for economic recovery. Hopefully policies will be aligned to
recovery and growth for the forward progression of the once vibrant economy.
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