Zim-Asset key to economic growth — VP Mnangagwa
THE Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) economic blueprint remains key to the country achieving sustainable economic growth, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
He said it was also important for Government ministries to set realistic goals that could be achieved with the limited resources that Treasury was able to provide.
VP Mnangagwa, who is also responsible for the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, said this when he officially opened his ministry’ Strategic Planning Review Workshop for 2017 in Kadoma yesterday.
“The full and proper implementation of Zim-Asset will guarantee the socio- economic stability of the nation ,” he said.
“It is imperative that our strategic plan takes cognisance of the programmes and activities being implemented by other ministries and departments to avoid duplication of effort and ensure that we complement and augment the national vision and programmes.”
VP Mnangagwa said it was important for the ministry to formulate an “explicit and well-considered” strategy that maximises on the limited resources that the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs received from Treasury due to financial constraints.
He said last year, the ministry engaged in the Ease of Doing Business exercise with a number of achievements attained.
“Various pieces of legislation are being amended to improve the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe, including the Insolvency Act, the Companies Act and the Deeds Registry Act,” said VP Mnangagwa.
“Let me take this opportunity to commend the efforts of all the departments involved in the ease of doing business exercise and urge you to continue in your endeavours to ensure that Zimbabwe attains a preferred investment destination status.”
VP Mnangagwa hailed the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services for signing up to the Command Agriculture initiative, which he said would go a long way in providing for prisoners’ rations in 2017 and beyond.
He said one of the ministry’s major achievements last year was the drafting and presentation of Zimbabwe’s national report under the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
VP Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe’s continued engagement with the international community on matters concerning human rights was critical, as it offered an opportunity for correcting the negative image of the country by unfriendly States.
He said the ministry was also seized with the finalisation of various State party reports that were due for submission before their respective bodies.
The Vice President said alignment of existing laws to the Constitution was one of the ministry’s major mandates.
He said while some people had raised concerns with the slow pace at which the alignment had been carried out, the exercise required meticulous planning for it to be completed successfully.
“That is not to say, however, that we need to drag our feet,” said VP Mnangagwa.
“We are almost three years now into the new Constitutional dispensation and all our laws must be aligned to the Constitution if we are to give effect to those constitutional provisions and fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined therein.”
The workshop was attended by Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Faber Chidarikire, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, representatives from the ministry and commissions under the ministry as well as Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services Deputy Commissioner-General Agrey Machingauta.