#HowFar: Window view in accountability

IFEEL lucky to have been part of the team that conceived the Zimcodd #HowFar campaign and executing the campaign in the manner we did has been nothing short of amazing. There is a certain iota of pride that comes with a clear conscience enveloping your workproduct, moreso when such work makes meaningful impact and pulls the right dares. I must admit I feel that, sometimes. I have always believed that truth must be told to power. The idea of running an accountability campaign using a very pithy question often used by Zimbabweans from across society when soliciting for a detailed update on an issue, just blew me off, the right way.

The campaign created a storm among the citizens triggering an avalanche of questions posed by citizens making it clear more has to be done to make information more public, open and accessible. It resonated with the citizens as it is a common street lingo harnessed to be an agency igniter.

The question How Far? sounded relevant to use in public affairs and easy to get traction from the citizens to ask the government questions regarding public finances accountability based on promises and mandate of the government as stewards of the public purse.

Zimbabwe suffers many accountability deficits from its leadership. History has exposed scandals and mismanagement of public funds. We have heard before of the missing US$15 billion from Marange diamonds — what a missed opportunity to transform the economy.

The Elias Mukonoweshuro public service audit exposed many ghost workers causing a ballooning public service wage bill. The Edward Chindori-Chininga diamond report and many others complemented by the annual audit reports by the auditor-general. These are basic contextual issues that have to be dealt with if we are to build the trust and confidence ruins.

The #HowFar campaign was inspired by the need to facilitate a multichannel communication platform focused on facilitating citizens’ involvement in making public finance management and policy more pro-people and propoor. The questions that need answers from the authorities in Zimbabwe are many and the campaign tackled some of them both online and offline, literally on the streets.

One billboard asked, how far with mega deals? This is a fundamental question for many Zimbabweans who are living in extreme poverty as 49% of the population in Zimbabwe lives in extreme poverty. Inequalities and lack of access to basic services are the lived realities of the majority of Zimbabweans. This reality is a dissonance to the government pronouncements of mega deals that amount to close to US$20,1 billion since 2017.

Zimbabweans are looking for transformational government projects that address their basic needs such as health, food, water, education, and decent jobs. Surely any mega deal for Zimbabweans has to be linked to addressing the triple burden of poverty, unemployment and inequalities. Anything that does not in real terms speak to their access and disposable incomes remains delusional.

Another question was how far with the implementation of the office of the auditor-general’s (OAG) recommendations? To date the auditor-general has made 356 recommendations and only 92 of them have been fully implemented representing 26% commitment to address the findings by the OAG. Of the 92 local authorities only 23 have submitted financial statements for 2019. These anomalies run in the face of the constitutional principles of transparency and accountability in public finance management under section 298(1)(a) and the oversight role of Parliament under section 299 of the Constitution. While Zimbabwe fails to finance its own development, bemoans sanctions and alienation from the international community and remains with a huge debt overhang of US$10,5 billion, it has enormous opportunities to build its own development financing agency if recommendations to plug leakages are implemented.

While at the implementation of the

OAG’s recommendations one of the key asks under the #HowFar campaign has been the curbing of grand corruption. Corruption is a form of tax borne by the citizens and it is their right to ask that corrupt individuals be arrested, prosecuted, charged and the loot recovered. The question mentioned a few questions pertaining to the Draxgate, National Social Security Authority and Zimbabwe National Road Administration scandals. A quick scan of the corruption scandals in agriculture, energy, infrastructure, transport and telecoms shows that the government has lost at least US$5,8 billion.

The leakages are at procurement and execution stages where the government gets a raw deal due to lack of due diligence, violation of constitutional provisions requiring parliamentary approval for certain deals and inflated prices emanating from the opacity in contract awarding. For example, Kariba South Hydro Expansion was constructed by Sinohydro using a loan from Exim Bank of China to the tune of US$533 million for 300MW, Zambia just across the border paid US$278 million for 360MW- 60MW more.

Another example is of the NetOne Telecoms Infrastructure Upgrade, a mega deal of US$218 million. NetOne was prejudiced US$78 million from overcharging by Huawei, its infrastructure partner. The company was supposed to pay US$120 million or in the worst-case scenario, to pay a maximum of US$140 million. A number of the government projects could have cost less with more transparency, due diligence and negotiations.

The how far question, therefore, as a way of unravelling “tenderpreneurship” and bringing the government to account will be looking for answers that speak to improvement procurement, contracting of projects and getting the best deals that deliver on minimum costs given the tight fiscal space.

Many other questions have been asked under the #Howfar campaign on debt management, public service delivery, alignment of laws to the Constitution among other critical public interest questions.

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