Staff ReporterBy Kuda Bhejana
A wise man once said if you want to take a bone from a hungry dog you do not wrestle the dog. You throw meat at the dog. The dog will latch on the meat before the bone touches the ground.
Zimbabweans are like a dog clinging to a bone even though the bone has no meat left on it.
Now the heavens have answered our prayers and thrown a meatball at us.
In case some of us don’t know the difference between bone and meat anymore, I am writing to exclaim to my countrymen, “Leave ye thy dry bone. Behold a meatball falleth from the merciful skies.”
Our meatball is presidential candidate, Nkosana Moyo.
Nkosana Moyo is the best candidate to support and vote for in the 2018 presidential elections. Here is why.
As a scientist and a financier Dr. Nkosana understands a fundamental principle which most our African politicians miss altogether – the principle of causality.
Politics and economics are a science, where for better or for worse, causes have effects.
In his recent extensive interview with Zimbo Live TV – a Zimbabwean Facebook Media outlet, Dr. Nkosana explains his free market non-interference economic philosophy and how this philosophy is Zimbabwe’s answer.
Clarity on the need to grow the economy
President Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist, James Carville coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
This is exactly the core principle of Dr. Nkosana’s message. He emphasizes the strategy of using government to create an economic environment which positions Zimbabwe as the center of business in Africa.
Dr. Nkosana believes that if we remove the shackles besieging the economy, once viable, the economy can take care of all the other social services. At the moment, Zimbabweans home and abroad suffer from economic disenfranchisement.
If the barriers of entry are removed and Zimbabweans are given a fair chance to enterprise, to produce products and services, two main things will happen.
Unemployment will vanish as companies employ the labor that is currently lying idle. As a result, government will get more revenue even at the same tax rate as now, due to the increase in taxable businesses and tax paying citizens.
This environment, according to Dr. Nkosana, is created by rethinking the role of government in the economy.
I was happy to hear Dr. Nkosana say that government should not be a competitor in the economy. In other words, the government should not be creating its own companies to compete with private companies. And this principle should apply whether it’s the exploitation of natural resources or not.
Instead, government should merely facilitate a fair economy by regulating private players.
According to Dr. Nkosana, to create of an environment that promotes business, he intends to rethink and reinvent government by slashing most of the current government ministries. This will save a lot of money currently remunerating ineffective bureaucrats.
Separation of government and state
Another very exciting idea is to constitutionally separate government from state. Dr. Nkosana has articulated the anomaly that Zanu-PF has hijacked arms of state including the military, intelligence services and the police.
State institutions are supposed to act independently of the party in government. The independence of state institutions fosters an environment of entrepreneurism because citizens won’t be politically targeted for supporting political parties of their choice.
On the contrary, the military, intelligence organizations and the police will be working to protect the citizens and to enforce the law.
When left to themselves, citizens can then be creative and exploit the economic opportunities that they identify.
The economic message of Dr. Nkosana is the strong reason why I would vote for him. He is a man who perceives politics from an economic lens. Politics, according to Dr. Nkosana is a way to develop the economy and to provide social services whose financing derive from a well-functioning economy.
The social services also aim to promote the involvement of the citizens in the economy.
No doubt, Dr. Nkosana Moyo is very different from the idea of a politician that we as Zimbabweans have become so accustomed to. But we should be very proud that a man like him has left the comfort of his success to want to join the “dirty game” and clean it up. Nkosana gives politics a telos, a purpose. His pursuit of the purpose, the economic purpose is not encouraged by the prospect of power, but the passion to make Zimbabwe the economic powerhouse that it is destined to become.
Kuda Bhejana is a media entrepreneur based in the United States. Read his blog at kudabhejana.com, and follow him on Twitter @kudabhejana.
