Hon. Gorden Moyo re-assigned to new Ministry

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Hon. Gorden Moyo MP, who until yesterday was the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, has been reassigned by the Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai to the Ministry
 of State Enterprises and Parastatals.

Minister Moyo has been involved in monitoring the performance of Government Ministries and parastatals and trouble shooting through the Office of the Prime Minister. His new assignment is to deal with state enterprises most of which were on the verge of collapse in the last decade due to poor governance and lack of adequate funding.

Redefining coordination in Zimbabwe’s Inclusive government

The room is packed and the air of expectation is palpable. The buzz dies down when a flurry of activity announces the arrival of the guest speaker for the day. This is the Bulawayo Press Club and they have invited Gorden Moyo, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office in Zimbabwe’s Inclusive Government. If there is one person who has intimate knowledge of its internal workings, it’s this man.

He is no stranger to this audience, this being one of many engagements with the press in Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Minister Moyo is also from this part of the country, having been a civil society leader of note.
It’s hard to imagine that only a few months ago, Gorden Moyo was an integral component of Zimbabwe’s restive civil society, now one of a few non-political appointees to the Inclusive Government and personally handpicked by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirayi. The fact that he works in the PM’s Office speaks volumes about his ability to deliver.

“I am an Afro-Optimist and I believe that the 21st century is Africa’s century,” the former executive director of Bulawayo Agenda, now Government Minister declares to the audience, telling them that the challenges that Africa faces, those of poverty, disease and conflict will be overcome. It is the same optimism that he exudes for the rest of the meeting.

The mandate of the Prime Minister’s Office under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) is to ensure that Government functions as efficiently as possible. This being the engine-room of the Inclusive Government, Moyo has no illusions whatsoever about the critical role he plays.

“Since we are an extension of the Prime Minister, we are directly responsible for policy formulation, coordinating the implementation of government programmes,” he says about his office that sets the legislative priorities of government and does most of the fire fighting.

Minister Moyo’s office is credited with the crafting of the innovative strategies that have lifted the country from economic ruin to one where business confidence is building up. The 100-day Plan, the Aid Coordination Architecture and the Government Work Programme are strategies through which the Office of the Prime Minister enables the efficient coordination of government thus inculcating a new culture of service delivery.

“Liberalisation measures adopted in 2009 that included the introduction of a multi-currency regime led to immediate changes such as macro-economic stability, fiscal discipline and stopping inflation in its tracks,” says Minister Moyo.

Hyperinflation was brought down from record figures put at 500 million percent by the World Bank to single digits, and business confidence returned to a country whose economy had hit rock bottom.
The challenges that Zimbabweans face are far from over as acknowledged by the Minister.

“Our biggest challenge at the moment is inflation. Food prices are rising along with public utility costs. Water and Electricity utilities along with local authorities are charging Zimbabweans highly when their salaries are unable to sustain all these expenses,” Moyo says.

He says that civil servants are right to demand better salaries but currently government did not have the money because of, among other things, the lack of fiscal space. Currently government was raising US$100 million compared to US$4.4 million raised in 2009. Up to 70% of this figure went into the salary bill leaving only 30% for other operations.

“Government cannot be run on this amount. Let’s raise the resources to meet salaries and until this happens, there can be no salary increase but cabinet is working on it,” Moyo assures the audience.

“An inter-ministerial committee headed by the Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has been tasked with dealing with costs drivers that are eating into the meagre salaries of Zimbabweans. They are investigating the utilities that supply water, electricity and telecommunications services as well as rentals.”

“Another committee is looking at resource mobilisation to raise funds for capital development and salaries and is headed by Deputy PM Thokozani Khuphe. It will also ensure that minerals such as the Chiyadzwa diamonds and platinum benefit the nation and not just a few individuals,” adds Moyo referring to the controversial diamond mining activities that have contributed little to the fiscus.

The Prime Minister’s Office has also tabled a Drought Mitigation Strategy proposing a series of measures that will ensure that areas hard hit by drought this year would receive government assistance. The provinces of Matabeleland North and South, Masvingo and parts of Manicaland have been affected.

“The Government faces serious capacity challenges and we need other players and partners to come to our assistance. Zimbabwe needs mouth to mouth resuscitation,” Moyo says.

Currently, the Zimbabwe government has come up with an integrated policy response to the challenges emerging from the political and socio-economic areas. This is in the form of the Government Work Programme (GWP) another initiative originating from Minister Moyo’s office.

“The GWP succeeds the 100-day Plan that was launched in Victoria Falls by the Inclusive Government in March 2009. It is a management tool through which Government articulates the preferred priorities, enabling the Council of Ministers to focus on the strategic level and avoid micro-managing line ministries,” explains Minister Moyo.

It is expected to steer other policy frameworks that include the recently launched medium Term Plan, the Budget Macro Economic Framework and the 2010 Budget. Along with a complimentary Legislative Program, the GWP provides Parliament with an instrument by which Government is held accountable.

“The Government Work Programme was approved by cabinet on 9 March 2010 and the critical targets submitted came from the various line ministries. It’s a full government document that is coordinated through the Office of the Prime Minister,” Moyo says in answer to critics in Zanu PF who alleged that the GWP had not been approved.

This reflects the difficulties relating to the Global Political Agreement which Minister Moyo admits to the audience are a huge test for the Inclusive Government.

“People should realise that this is not a conventional government but rather a government by negotiation. There are bound to be disagreements on a lot of issues. A coalition is that of negative energies and turf wars abound because that is its nature. It’s not democratic but Government’s mandate is to come up with policy so we have to make it work,” Minister Moyo says.

Fielding a question from the floor on why the Inclusive Government was being paralysed by ‘outstanding issues’ in the GPA that never seemed to be solved, Moyo declares that there was nothing wrong with the Principals, President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirayi and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara raising such issues and that there was no reason for anyone to lose faith.

“We will continue to fight for transformation and change. There is no room in government to lose faith. Issues of faith are issues for the pulpit. The GPA will have to come to an end because we need a democratically elected government and that is only when issues of transitional justice can be dealt with,” Minister Moyo says.

At the end of the meeting, one get the feeling that the journalists have somewhat got what they were looking for, an assurance perhaps that things were on track in the Inclusive Government despite signals to the contrary coming from the political camps and the state media. A rare insight into the workings of Zimbabwe’s coalition shows that there is a dedicated and hard working team that ensures that the government functions effectively, and that Minister Gorden Moyo makes sure this happens.