Minister Gina’s reappointment timely for NDP agenda
‘‘The problem in this country is that anything that threatens debt sustainability is feared. Yet in the SADC countries, only three countries have borrowed more than Eswatini. Let us borrow funds for investment purposes to fight hunger and unemployment.’’
MBABANE – With the nation having come together to share their challenges, mostly related to poverty and unemployment, the reappointment of Dr Tambo Gina into Cabinet can be viewed as the perfect timing.
Dr Gina is also a Member of Parliament for Lubulini.
His appointment can be viewed as a perfect timing because the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, where he has been reappointed to, is the one that is responsible for spearheading the National Development Plan (NDP) 2023/24 – 2027/28.
The plan is expected to run throughout his five-year term of office. Notably, it addresses some of the challenges faced by the country.
Gina, whose appointment was announced by Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, is one of seven ministers who have been assigned to the same ministries where they served in the previous government.
UNPLANNED
It is on record that the ministry could not successfully implement the previous plan due to occurrences such as the COVID-19 pandemic, political unrest and Cyclone Eloise, which were all unexpected and demanded a change in priorities and a shift in resource allocation.
The new NDP 2023/24 – 2027/28 is regarded as a pathway for the next five years leading to economic recovery underlined by good governance, sound macro-fiscal management and sustainable livelihoods.
With the plan having been launched during his last year in office with the previous Cabinet, it means that Gina was among the major stakeholders who were involved when it was being compiled.
The document was launched by him early this year.
RECOVERY
In his foreword, the minister recounted how the 2019 – 2021 was a challenging road to recovery for Eswatini, as it was the period that government had dedicated to the implementation of reforms for economic recovery, but contrasting circumstances prevailed.
Some of the measures contained in the document, which government has to undertake include those that were recommended by emaSwati during the Sibaya, People’s Parliament held recently at the Ludzidzini Cattle Byre.
The people, including Minister Gina himself, acknowledged that the country was faced with a myriad of challenges including a poor economic performance.
SITUATION
According to the submissions, the situation in the country has for years been characterised by high levels of unemployment that are particularly affecting the youth, high poverty levels and a skewed income distribution, a poor and dysfunctional health system with an increasing disease burden and diminishing quality and relevance of education to name a few.
Gina made his submission on day five of the Sibaya, where he was to state solutions to issues of poverty and unemployment, especially among the youth.
He was also asked to share his views on why the country’s economic performance was poor and how this could be rectified.
In his response, the minister submitted that all the issues could be addressed by providing a strong budget.
“What makes the economy grow is for government to work together with the business sector and promote the growth of textile and prioritise the mining sector. Also, to grow the economy, there is a need to grow the infrastructure and provide cheap internet services. All of this needs money.
“The problem in this country is that anything that threatens debt sustainability is feared. Yet in the SADC countries, only three countries have borrowed more than Eswatini. Let us borrow funds for investment purposes to fight hunger and unemployment,” he said.
In vernacular, ‘Asingayisabi imali, asiyitfole si-investe’.
IMPLEMENTING
The points Gina made are part of the summary of the new NDP as it projects into the future with the promise of implementing reforms to change the trajectory of the economy and also focuses on changing livelihoods to be sustainable.
Worth noting is that Gina stated in the foreword of the document that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 followed by the political unrest in June 2021 escalated the damage already being experienced economically and socially. Resultantly, he stated, the past NDP could not be implemented as planned and a decision was taken for this NDP to continue with the same development priorities as the socio-economic environment is increasingly challenging.
The economic predicament, which has confronted the country for more than a decade coupled with deteriorating social indicators is in full contrast with the lower middle-income status.
SLUGGISH
The economy continues to experience a sluggish growth pattern characterised by a fiscal crisis, high levels of youth unemployment, high levels of poverty and inequalities, low levels of private investment and worsening human development indicators.
The economy was already fragile when COVID-19 struck in 2020 forcing it into a technical recession
and exposed structural weaknesses, especially in the education and health sectors as well as in social protection. The impact on the economy is a strong signal for the call to rethink the economic growth model and consider structural socio-economic and governance weaknesses.
This NDP is focused on growth and fiscal consolidation with good governance as the anchor since it is the bolt and nuts for economic development. It is the operational policy document with priorities for the medium-term guiding resource allocation.
It brings together all the policy documents including the Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan, SSDIG, UN Agenda 2030, AU Agenda 2063, and SADC – RISDP into a single framework which shall form the basis of the MTFF.
UNPACKED
All in all, the thematic policy message is unpacked at sectoral level into programmes and projects for funding.
Ultimately, it is envisaged that as the programmes and activities are being implemented, the set of identified strategic outcomes will have a positive impact on the fiscus, investment climate, management of natural resources, human development as well as building a culture of excellence. The ultimate goal is to achieve sound macro-fiscal management, grow the economy and improve on service delivery.
Government is focusing on a twopronged policy framework of economic recovery and sustainable livelihoods with convergence towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This NDP benefitted from consultations with different stakeholders representing a cross-section of sectors and an effort was made to build consensus on sectoral priorities in view of the prevailing socio-economic and political climate.
Stakeholders agreed that the recent NDP provided a strong base for the new NDP, as the challenges still persisted and there had been little implementation of proposed policy interventions.
In his own words, Dr Gina said government has defined six strategic policy initiatives to help the country address the challenges and explore opportunities to get back a competitive edge in a fast-changing global landscape.
INITIATIVES
These initiatives aim to comprehensively address the challenges and act as game changers, which if successfully applied will fundamentally change the trajectory of the country’s growth.
These are (i) good governance aimed at achieving a conducive political climate and fiscal consolidation; (ii) human capital development focusing on harnessing the demographic dividend and addressing youth unemployment; (iii)strengthening infrastructure to support economic recovery; (iv) greening economic growth through the adoption of climate change related measures to build sustainability and resilience; (v) strengthen service delivery to improve well-being of all emaSwati; and (vi) finally promoting the private sector to be the engine for growth. However, at the centre of our development trajectory is peace and political stability underpinned by a shared identity as a people.