Fixing economy Cleopas’s priority
LOBAMBA – Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini has made fixing the economy his priority and not political stability.
He said he was aware that this may make him unpopular but, it was the right thing to do.
Dlamini was speaking in Parliament yesterday when senators congratulated him following his appointment by
His Majesty King Mswati III last Friday. He said he was still to unpack his full strategy at a later stage.
“There is no way of fixing the politics, while neglecting the economy. How can you get the attention of people who are hungry and unemployed? The priority is to fix the economy,” he said.
He poured scorn at those who had presupposed a direction for him in his first week as prime minister, saying he would rather be concerned with implementing policies that would develop the economy than to look for popularity.
“I read in the Times that someone said if I do not do this and this, then I would be unpopular. Madam President, it would be good for me to do such things, but to say that I must target those things is a different story. I would rather be unpopular. I assumed this duty knowing very well that the risk of being unpopular was real,” he said.
He said he could not aim for being popular at the expense of the core duties - that of fixing the economy.
The PM promised the senators that he would unpack his programme at a later stage, promising that national development initiatives such as the provision of clean water and electricity were part of essential infrastructure development initiatives in store.
He thanked the senators for showing confidence in him, saying he felt encouraged to work hard.
“I hope that the experience I had over the past two years has prepared me enough to do this work.
The only political experience I had was the few years in which I was a senator.”
He said he was banking on the support from Senate to succeed.
“I know that this work I have been assigned will be a success, only if there is cooperation from Senate. If the King had announced the appointment before making his speech I would have missed the whole address. Even now, I know that everything that happened at Sibaya after my appointment escaped me as I was shocked. But I must say I have now recovered, and am able to focus on the future,” he said.
CONGRATULATORY
When passing congratulatory messages to him, senators said they had all the confidence that he would acquit himself well in his duties. Former Political Science Lecturer at the University of Eswatini ( UNESWA) Qambukusa Magagula said the prime minister should be able to explain the reasons that led to the current state of the economy before making it a priority.
He had been asked to provide his expert opinion on the prime minister’s stance that he would prioritise the economy over the political situation.
“Before one can respond to such comments by the PM, I would like to ask him what caused the economy to be in the state that it is in. Once he has responded, he must then be able to state why he thinks politics is secondary,” Magagula said.
Magagula said he had been invited to make his presentations before the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security, where he made his assertions clear on the political situation. He declined to reveal what his submissions were, saying he was confident they would be encapsulated in the final report. President of the People’s United Democratic Movement ( PUDEMO) Mlungisi Makhanya said the PM was wrong because no country would ever succeed while not prioritising the political situation.
“This serves as a confirmation that we have been given a statue for a prime minister. Economic progress is intertwined with politics. It is political stability that will bring predictability to the country, as people could then expect the rule of law and an investment climate when the political situation is right,” he said.
Makhanya said his criticism should not be directed at the prime minister but the appointing authorities. He said his words to the prime minister are that “we will meet on the ground. We don’t care what he says in the comfort of the chambers, but we say we will meet him on the ground. EmaSwati have made it clear that they want an elected prime minister.”
His Majesty King Mswati III had, at the cattle byre, said that the PM was the right person for the job given his monumental successes when he was Chief Executive Officer at the Public Service Pension Fund ( PSPF).
Besides congratulating him, the senators also implored him not to betray the Ingwenyama and the country.