Mr President

GOOD day, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Your Excellency, as the fragrance of 2024 abounds in the atmosphere, it is opportune for me to extend to you my sincere complements of the new year. I plead that you be doubly blessed with insight and wisdom, similarly to that which Prophet Elisha pleaded for from his mentor, Prophet Elijah.

Your Excellency, amid the season's pleasantries, it is a crying shame that your Presidency failed to inspire prosperity. There is nothing evident yet that the country is open for business, destined to be an upper-middle-class society by 2030.

As I see it, the stability that is ordinarily conducive for investment is conspicuous by its absence. As the culture of inconclusive harmonised elections continues, so does perpetual socio-economic woes.

Methinks the soaring inflation and the virtually collapsed local currency continue to confine citizenry to poverty.

With the aptly coined anti-poor budget that was recently presented in Parliament, the rough and tough rigours of living are destined to continue burdening citizenry. I reckon it aptly fits the kind of budget which was condemned by the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"I contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle," deplored Churchill. Forsooth, a budget which increases the already exorbitant passport fees and impose taxes on houses that were already taxed during construction or at point of purchase is anti-citizenry.

Your Excellency, it has always been an open secret that disputed harmonised elections were destined to strain Zimbabwe's international relationships. With a plus US$20 billion external debt, it was basic knowledge that credible elections were a prerequisite for engagement with the foreign lenders.

It is imperative for Zimbabwe to be well and truly open for business. Yet, this milestone can only