GOVTS STRUGGLE IN GOVERNANCE

READING political quotes on political philosophy I came across the following from former President of the USA, Ronald Reagan; “We don’t have a trillion Dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough, but we have a trillion Dollar debt because we spend too much,” unquote.

Still aligned to matters of their economy and the fiscus, former President Reagan had this to say: “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: if it works, tax it.

If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.” And that is so true for countries that find themselves in a fiscal crunch - spending too much, or extravagant spending to be more precise. And not even coming back armed with a bagful of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a host of thematics would save nations from collapsing and bankrupting their economies. We need to be saved from ourselves!

Isn’t it surprising that some nations still struggle with governance in an era where the likes of the UN have it all made for member States, and leaders in terms of what they should be doing in governing their people? I mean, leaders go to these conferences,  be it SADC, UN and others to be given the development agenda for the world and their countries, and all they need to do upon return is implement and report back on those strategies. I mean, member States have the job half done for them already and all they need to do is allocate resources for the implementation of those strategies.

Listening to the PM listing the eight thematic areas of the SDGs, prioritising matters of education, the economy, governance and corruption, among others, I thought the UN really meant business because these are the topical issues for all nations. Listening to the PM say how these link-up with the SADC agenda and of course our Vision 2022, I felt that we were on track as a country. The only let down, however, is the lack of political will in advancing some of the thematics.

For instance when it comes to the economy and matters of the fiscus, we seem hell-bent on defying logic, in that advices given to us by BrettonWoods institutions like the IMF, are seemingly treated with contempt as our extravagance gets the better of us. I mean we all knew that the haste in settling with labour unions and the gratuitous award of salary increments to politicians was going to land us in financial dire straits.

We pulled all stops to impress at the SADC Summit, and we succeeded but that has landed us in the financial quagmire we are in today. However, had we listened to the IMF we would not be where we are today. Zimbabwe did not get into their current financial crisis because of naivety, but because of not heeding advice of some of these institutions - why?

Because sovereign lenders listen to these institutions when considering lending nations, and if a country defies sound advice, credit ratings take a nose dive and lenders keep their distance from such nations. No wonder the World Bank said it was not going to consider lending Zimbabwe anytime soon. And already, we hear bells of a collapsed State ringing in Zimbabwe, with civil servants having failed to receive their salaries. And if we continue in this path, we will quickly catch up with Zimbabwe. And it would be such a shame when we have such support from these international bodies and institutions giving us worthwhile advice.

And now, with the shortage of funds in the fiscus, the natural reaction for government is to look at ways of taxing the economy more, which will in turn restrict investment as business could look at setting up elsewhere. I mean, countries very close to us have a lower tax regime, the lowest being Botswana with a corporate tax of 15 per cent against our 27.5 per cent. 

Like former President Reagan would have it, we are not in this position because we have not taxed enough, but rather, because of extravagant spending. Someone was telling me the other day that this government continues to hire state of the art executive cars for judges and others at exorbitant rates, and you ask why not acquire instead? If the money is not available, why not get these leased from banks, which would be so happy to do that.

The more I think of how easy it is governing countries nowadays with the assistance of international bodies setting the agenda, the more I am convinced that simplicity is indeed the ultimate sophistication; as they say.

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