Understanding the pre-budget process

Is deep yearning within the broader citizenry across the country for a return to normalcy after the debilitating effects of Covid-19 over the past two years.

The pandemic has greatly affected life as we knew it, and has stifled previously thriving enterprises and economies.

It is definitely no longer business as usual.

Economies across the globe took a major battering from prolonged spells of lockdowns that came in all shapes and sizes.

At each point when there has been a glimmer of hope with marked declines in new Covid-19 infections and attendant deaths, where there seems to be light at the end of the marauding Covid-19 tunnel, another wave suddenly pops up, forcing the globe into a hasty retreat.

Tourism has not been spared. Literally all forms of vacations have had to take a back seat as leaders scramble to safeguard the people’s lives and, by extension, guarantee that humanity is not wiped out in the ensuing melee.

The Zimbabwean Government took a conscious decision to ringfence the economy by allowing sectors like agriculture and manufacturing to open.

Unfortunately this could not be extended to the tourism sector.

By its nature, tourism is human-centred and a contact trade, falling foul of the dictates of standard operating procedures as set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as Government parameters.

Tourist destinations in the country have been severely affected by the pandemic and our prime destination of choice has not been spared.

Victoria Falls — the smoke that thunders — is only beginning to emerge from the shadow of the pandemic.

Wherein other tourist destinations across the country do not solely rely on tourism for the upkeep of inhabitants, this is not the case with Victoria Falls, and this salient fact is not lost on residents.

It is no surprise that the crime rate in this resort town is very close to nil.

Tourism is the only source of livelihood and anything that tampers with it is effectively killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

It also comes as no surprise that the City of Victoria Falls was the first to achieve herd immunity in the whole country.

Scores of people responded in unison when President Mnangagwa strategically took a decision to get his jab in the resort town.

It will also he remembered that Victoria Falls was the first city to receive a lockdown reprieve after they had applied to the Covid-19 taskforce for such.

Within two weeks, the city had reached herd immunity.

It is only befitting that parliamentarians took a decision to have their annual Pre-Budget Seminar in the resort town.

This gives impetus to the drive by well-meaning Zimbabweans to breathe life into the tourism industry.

Pre-budget seminars are of paramount importance in shaping the final outlook of the budget being crafted by Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube.

The idea of domestic tourism has long been touted as being a critical cog in jumpstarting the tourism industry after a long Covid-19-induced hiatus.

While Members of Parliament (MPs) are not on holiday per se, the fact that they have chosen the tourist destination sets a good precedence for the country in any given case.

After massive retrenchments and furloughs that have characterised the past two years, domestic tourism will become important in the rejuvenation of our economy.

The seminar provides a platform for MPs to interact with the Executive and present findings from the budget consultation conducted around the country.

As part of citizen participation in the budget formulation process, earlier on in the month, Parliament of Zimbabwe, through the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development and Expanded Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), made consultations around the country on what citizens expect in the budget for the year 2022.

In a press briefing prior to the Victoria Falls excursion, I contextualised the importance of input from citizens when I highlighted that over the past two years, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development has taken on board between 40 and 50 percent of input that has come through the broader consultative process, which is no mean feat.

It is important to underscore the centrality of budget consultations and seminars in the democratisation of the budget process, as it encompasses the thought tracks of the citizenry, deepens the democratic dividend and outcome ownership on all fronts.

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