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Auxilia Katongomara, Business Reporter

GOVERNMENT through the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) is scaling up its economic reform agenda to create an attractive investment climate and inclusive development path to achieve Vision 2030.

Senior principal director in the Department of Public Affairs and Knowledge Management in the OPC, Ambassador Mary Mubi, said the reform agenda covers critical legislation and key investment policies that enhance the ease of doing business in the country in line with the ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra.

In an interview at the OPC stand at the ongoing Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) yesterday, Amb Mubi said the reform agenda was guided by the Transitional Stabilisation Programme.

“This year we are focusing specifically on the reform agenda, which is coordinated through the Office of the President because the TSP focuses on some of the reforms we must undertake to create a conducive environment for our economic growth and Vision 2030,” she said.

“The importance of the stabilisation programme is really about us as Zimbabweans creating a policy environment, which allows us to be able to mobilise people on a number of levels but also reform, and reform does not end, it has to be continuous reform because the world is not stopping.”

Amb Mubi said reforming the investment climate was critical in order for the country to become competitive. 

She said at this year’s exhibition the OPC has separated its stand to highlight departments focusing on the reform agenda.

“Normally we work as the OPC in our stand and do a whole of Government stand but this time we decided to focus on departments within the office but focusing on the reform agenda because we are communicating this reform agenda and what it means to the general public,” she said.

“So, we have for instance, ZIDA, the one stop shop that is talking about how our investors can now come to a one stop shop, which facilitates all their requirements. 

“In the past, yes, we had the investment centre but what we have tried to do is to make sure that there is a real one stop shop for ease of transacting.”

Amb Mubi said the OPC has in the past years been undertaking the ease of doing business as part of trying to reduce the time and cost of doing a business in Zimbabwe. 

She said some of the highlights on the ease of doing business include the setting up of commercial courts.

“We are saying in terms of commercial disputes what has happened is that a number of Magistrates Courts now have commercial court sections where it is now much easier for commercial disputes to be handled. So, now issues of commercial disputes and access to justice becomes very important and for the investors coming into the country, this is a key issue,” she said.

“Here we are trying to illustrate that Vision 2030 is not just on paper, it’s really a journey and Government is trying to excite people in all sectors about the journey with respect to governance, more participation, inclusive in terms of gender, women, mechanisation, modernisation and in terms of where we live, how we live . . . so that as a nation we move towards Vision 2030.”

The OPC stand, Amb Mubi said, was also showcasing some of the works being undertaken by the First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa.

“We are highlighting some of the First Lady’s programmes, which include issues that she has been running with in respect to inheritance issues, working with the chiefs’ wives in terms of our communities because mothers are very important in our communities. So, by working with                                                                                             the chiefs’ wives what she is basically saying is that when people come to see chiefs, they must also be empowered by the spouses of the chiefs in terms of food security, issues to do with the girl child and all the programmes that she is doing,” she said.

“In the new dispensation what we are emphasising is the issue or policy of inclusion of people, both in terms of identification of problems but also in terms of crafting and in the implementation of policy. 

“That yes, as Government we implement policies but as lot of policies are really not just about Government institutions but are also about how private sector comes in.” 

Amb Mubi said an important part of the reform drive was the devolution process which will see people being involved at sub national level in development and identifying their own resources. 

— @AuxiliaK