By Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa | 5 Nov 2015 | CORRUPTION…is at the centre of price distortions and needs to be dealt with if the country is to realize effective economic development. The prevalence of bribe- taking is offering kickbacks and favoritism must be eliminated in all our deals both in Government and the Private sector as it is costing us a lot in terms of overpriced goods and services.

If we as a nation, do not address issues of country risk both from a socio-political aspect at a macro level, investors as we know them are risk averse and if we are to attract responsible capital than we should reduce the risk associated with the way we do business.

Despite the economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West the economy can perform better if good corporate governance enforcement mechanisms were in place. As we aspire to resuscitate our economy, good corporate governance is a prerequisite which should be embraced as an essential element of doing business.

Poor corporate governance cost the country huge sums of money through the salary-gate scandal by senior managers in state enterprises and parastatals.Several institutions were collapsing, while ordinary people were failing to get their salaries on time and in some cases losing their jobs the government is determined to deal with corruption in both public and private sector.

Development partners can only continue to support the country if their donations are accounted for. Our partners become committed if their every cent they donate is spent on what has been agreed upon. When it is discovered that the funds have been abused by corrupt officials obviously they will be reluctant to continue investing in the country.ndakunyeverai,vasingadi kuteerera hameno zvavo. We must know that investment can only go where it makes a return so we must make sure we create an environment where investors are happy to put their money because there is a return.

In fact, capital will go where it finds comfort, so we need to do that, create an ease of doing business environment. We have to see how we can create an investment environment which will attract the flow of capital. These are the tasks we face and we have to look at even legislation and our social systems need to be reformed in order to catch up with current global trends.

You cannot say there are areas of our economy which we are happy with, infrastructure we are behind by 15-16 years, agricultural development the same, manufacturing, in fact capacity utilisation in some areas of our industry it is down to 20%, so again we have to retool by acquiring new machinery, technology and machinery so that we are competitive. CORRUPTION STIFLING ECONOM

IC GROWTH…….We castigate public officials who attempt to sanitise corruption and fraud to cover up their illegal deeds as such individuals are perpetrating economic sabotage.

The public sector corruption is stifling economic growth and and hurting the poor. Allegations of corruption and fraud against public officials and individuals have become commonplace and have given various labels in misplaced attempts to sanitise an otherwise abhorrent and heinous practices..VP Mnangagwa