Zim open to FDI, but not dirty money

GOVERNMENT this week hosted Rwanda Development Board chief executive officer Ms Clare Akamanzi, who was invited to come and share her experiences on how her country, which in 1994 experienced a genocide in which over 800 000 people were killed in just 100 days, had managed to attract billions of dollars in Foreign Direct Investment.

For President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra to register quick gains, there is certainly a lot that needs to be changed, top among the fundamentals a lethargic culture of conducting business across the board.

Ms Akamanzi has already held discussions with permanent secretaries, senior Government officials and is expected to meet Cabinet ministers at Munhumutapa Building today as she continues to engage the decision-makers.

So far, key issues that have featured prominently in deliberations held that might promote inflows of FDI into the country include the political will, firm and unwavering decisions, giving the private sector a voice.

In our view, these issues have the potential to transform the country’s economic fortunes as foreign investors gain confidence in the new administration. There is, however, a need to build national institutional structures to support these initiatives.

FDI inflows tend to follow standardised principles; consistent policies and their implementation, property rights, rule of law including regulations that enable repatriation of profits by investors to their countries of origin.

With the new dispensation under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, the willpower is there and the message so far has been consistent. The only challenge might be remnants of disgruntled people who thrived on corruption under the previous regime who might frustrate these efforts by demanding kickbacks from potential investors.

Inasmuch as doors to the office of the President are open for investors, the idea of senior politicians and civil servants demanding facilitation fees should be criminalised because it adds up to the investor’s startup costs.

A system that requires certain individuals to refer would-be investors to some influential individuals in higher offices is flawed and an unnecessary bottleneck.

Red tape in public offices should be cut drastically as it offers the temptation for people to demand bribes before they get to the end of the line.

But we also must add a word of caution: inasmuch as the country needs FDI, we should not swallow hook, line and sinker everything that comes our way. Due diligence should be done to ensure we do not take unscrupulous investors seeking to clean their dirty money.

We might be disadvantaged right now as a country, but we should still retain our dignity of turning away so-called investors who seek to dictate terms that prejudice current and future generations of this country.

Zimbabwe can still have billions of FDI without mortgaging its natural resources to the detriment of future generations to whom we should bequeath a befitting heritage.

The new dispensation should also ensure the national cake is distributed in a manner that does not result in the citizens playing second fiddle to investors in the future.

As different key department heads interact with the visiting FDI experts, Zimbabweans still expect deals that enable them to benefit from their natural resources as investors plough back into education, technology transfer and key infrastructural development.

That is the only way we can avoid the path of countries that have had billions of dollars in foreign investment but still look far poorer than we are despite nearly two decades of Western sanctions.

That said, let us make maximum use of our expert guest, Ms Akamanzi, to quicken our economic development efforts. We should be able to avoid the mistakes they made on the road to where Rwanda is today.