2017: LEFT TO DIE!

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The year began with a theme; ‘rising above adversity to create prosperity for all’. It was clarion call from His Majesty the King during the State of the Nation address aimed at motivating a dramatic comeback following the devastating effects of the El Nino drought that ravaged the SADC region.

Coupled with this was the ever-increasing burden on the limited financial resources, no thanks to an unjustifiable salary increase the previous year which rendered the wage bill highly unsustainable, among other misguided spending priorities.

Expectations were high that government would be jolted into an action in order to chart a course of prudent fiscal conduct that speaks to channelling resources towards areas with the highest rate of return on investment.

We were looking forward to diversification of the economy to reduce dependence on SACU receipts, the transformation of the agricultural sector to meet food self sufficiency targets and the elimination of the bureaucratic red tape to enhance the ease of doing business so as to attract foreign direct investment(FDI), among other economic boosting initiatives.

It is fair to say that as we close the year 2017 on a -0.6 per cent economic growth rate, with a highly indebted private sector due to non-payment of services by government and a serious lack of FDI, our government has performed dismally.

Putting the country’s re-admittance to AGOA aside, because the impact of this will only be felt in many years to come, we only have the impressive reduction in HIV infection which has been lauded the world over to celebrate. Throughout the year we have jumped from one crisis to another in just about every sector of service delivery and none could be more heartbreaking than to leave cancer patients for dead as government officials flew all around the world in First and Business Class at a time when there was little or no money to pay for the essential services provided by the Phalala Fund.
The latest cancer patient has been discharged from hospital and told to go home and die because the local health system can offer no further help due to lack of funds. This devastating ultimatum just about sums up the year 2017. The prime minister and his Cabinet owe it to the nation at large, why and how they allowed the ship to sink deeper into adversity when the mandate was the exact opposite.    

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