EDITORIAL COMMENT: New approach to Govt business progressive, refreshing President Mnangagwa arrives for the Cabinet meeting at Munhumutapa Building in Harare on Monday

IT’S no longer business as usual in the conduct of Government affairs as President Emmerson Mnangagwa moves to eliminate slothfulness, encourage a spirit of efficient service delivery and accountability in his new look Cabinet. The President chaired the first Cabinet meeting under the Second Republic in Harare on Monday where he introduced a new approach in the conduct of Government business and tasked the new Ministers to identify at least five quick-win and high impact projects that improve the livelihoods of the people.

Under the new approach, ministers are expected to make presentations during the course of a Cabinet meeting while decisions will be communicated to the nation every Wednesday to ensure transparency.

All the projects will be strictly monitored and implemented under the 100-day programme cycles. In November last year at the advent of the new dispensation, Government adopted a new methodology of ensuring that Ministries and agencies deliver quality services to the people through the Integrated Results Based Management System with its accompanying Rapid Results Approach.

It also adopted the 100-day programme cycle as a new model of doing business to accentuate the rapid and efficient implementation of priority projects with an immediate impact on the livelihoods of the people. These will be monitored using the Executive Electronic Dashboard which will track progress on each project.

Giving his opening remarks during the Cabinet meeting, President Mnangagwa said the 100-day cycles would continue and new ministers should embrace them as the norm of doing business in Cabinet.

“Since the advent of the new dispensation on the 24th of November, 2017, we adopted a new methodology of ensuring that Government Ministries and agencies deliver quality services to the people through the Integrated Results Based Management System with its accompanying Rapid Results Approach,” he said.

“We also adopted the 100-day programme cycle as a new model of doing business to support our drive to attain Vision 2030. The 100-day programme cycle helped us to accentuate the rapid and efficient implementation of priority projects with an immediate impact on the livelihoods of our people. Going forward, we should continue to apply the 100-day cycles as a way of doing business in Government supported by the monitoring of performance outcomes using the Executive Electronic Dashboard. This means that, at the click of a button, projects performance tracking has been made easy across Cabinet, Ministries and parastatals.”

President Mnangagwa said the new Ministers should be aware of the mammoth task of leading the transformation process on the country’s trajectory to become a middle income economy by 2030 and emphasised the need to speak with one voice. “Our approach will entail four or five Ministers making presentations during the course of a Cabinet meeting like this one until the 100-day cycle ends,” he said.

“The decision taken by Cabinet will be communicated to the nation every Wednesday after we have met. Thus, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services (Monica Mutsvangwa), will issue a press statement in the presence of the Chief Secretary (to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda) and the implementing ministers. This will help us entrench transparency and a culture of responsiveness as we seek to transform the quality of life of our people.”

We welcome the new approach to Government business as it engenders transparency, a new work ethic, accountability and efficiency in service delivery. The Results Based Management System will ensure that Government delivers tangible and quick win projects with an immediate impact on the livelihoods of the people.

The new approach will also make Cabinet meetings more productive as only four or five ministers will make presentations giving them time to be thorough while Cabinet will also be able to adequately interrogate their submissions and fine tune them ahead of implementation.

Regular briefings of Cabinet proceedings to the nation through Wednesday press statements will enhance transparency and accountability. There will be no room for passengers as Cabinet Ministers’ work will be in the glare of the public. Through an Executive Electronic Dashboard, project tracking will be easier across the Government bureaucracy cutting the red tape, propensity for corruption and inertia.

President Mnangagwa has said there will be zero tolerance to laziness, dishonesty, corruption and slothfulness in his Cabinet and we hope his Ministers have been put on notice. By dropping several big names from the previous administration and incorporating new youthful talented faces which he infused with experience, the President is sending a bold message that he wants a team capable of delivering on his vision of a middle income economy by 2030.

We encourage the new Ministers to acquaint themselves with the essential components of the 100-day cycle, the Integrated Results Based Management System, The Rapid Results Approach and the Executive Dashboard as a matter of urgency. We also call on all Zimbabweans to give the new team all the support it needs as it knuckles down to the arduous task of extricating this country from the economic challenges it is facing.

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