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By Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo
Greetings to you, Your Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa. I come to you in peace and would like to share my thoughts with you.
This advice will preserve your legacy and safeguard your departure in the near future in politics. Below, are my few thoughts
1. Sacrifice some of your close people
You need to offload some of your close old guards around you and replace them with young turkey, and technical sound people.
2. You need Sound Leadership
What people are looking for is result-oriented and result-based monitoring systems and evaluation evolved around your Presidency.
3. Your Presidency must be felt on the ground
You need to be felt on the ground, and people must admire your Leadership. They must be inspired, and they must feel that you are part of them
4. You need to focus on Development, ahead of politics
It appears as though, the entire system, projects, initiatives point to elections, which is not wrong, but everything must literally reflect on development.
5. Criminals have regrouped around you
The same scenario we had in 2017, is promptly surfacing, and the public sector has become a breeding ground for corruption. It will be entirely difficult to contain the situation, at some point, and my suggestion is that you need to curb all the leakages that are happening in the public sector.
6. Those around you, will disown you at some given point
I’m sure, you are a well-experienced intelligence guru, more than me, you have experienced a lot, they are many people around who are pretending to like you, who may disown you at some given point.
7. Allow Independent opinion-makers to give you the best advice.
The likes of Hopewell Chin’ono, Prof Arthur Mutambara, Dr. Shingie Munyeza, Dr. Nigel Chanakira, Ben Manyenyeni, former Mayor of Harare, even Nelson Chamisa can be the best mirrors in your leadership journey. Build a strong team around your Advisory, in order to strengthen your leadership journey
7. You have a bloated Government
This includes the Senate, Parliament, Cabinet, and it’s not necessary. Why don’t you propose to remove the Senate, remain with Parliament, remove Deputy Ministers, remain with Permanent Secretaries, and Principal Directors to do the policy formulation
8. Remain with One Vice President
It may be a blessing in disguise, to remain with one Vice President, and cut expenditure, and redirect the same expenditure to the main critical issues of the economy.
9. Reduce Foreign Missions
Is it necessary to have embassies in all countries around the world? Absolutely, the answer is NO. We may remain with those which are Strategic for Economic Recovery.
10. Groundbreaking ceremonies
Whilst it is the duty and obligation of the Government of Zimbabwe to carry out developmental projects around the country, we also need to fulfill the promises after the groundbreaking ceremonies. Groundbreaking ceremonies must be followed with practical results and implementation.
11. Change your PR team
Your PR team which is responsible for marketing you is not doing a good job for you. They are giving you wrong advice and information, contrary to what is on the ground. I have been studying your presentations, and I think whilst you may want to relay good information to the public, the way it is done is sending wrong signals to the public.
12. Mr. President, you need to be felt on the ground
There was a paradigm shift in politics in 2017. MUGABE was charismatic, people have different gifts, and whilst you may try to cover the gap, you need a strong team around your leadership, to substitute some of the gaps. It is an obvious case; the general public makes personal judgments around leadership from Mugabe’s era, and they are bound to make comparisons, I was of the opinion that you may need serious reshuffling of ideas around your Presidency
13. Manage perceptions
The general public has these sentiments that Zanu PF is evil, Zanu PF is brutal, Zanu PF is mismanaging the economy, and it is of paramount importance, to show them the other side of the coin, by changing your leadership approach along the way. Perceptions are easily managed by removing toxic politics around your Presidency.
15. Shelve toxic politics ahead of Development
There is too much politics ahead of Development. Look you are only left with 6 years to go, that is if your Party allows you to be on the ballot paper. Replace toxic politics with a proper Economic Recovery framework
16. Preserve your legacy
From the onset of things, you have to work tirelessly to deal with many inconsistencies, loopholes in your leadership. There are serious potholes that need serious patches in the Government. When I talk of potholes, I’m not talking of those on our roads, but the general leadership, and it’s never too late to substitute ideas and team players
17. Too much congestion in urban areas
Do you have a plan to deal with this? How? When? I think we are the only country remaining without spaghetti roads, and it took me almost 45 mins to get into town. Any solutions around this?
18. You are racing against time
You need to be remembered, one day in the future, and for this to happen, make things happen; development must speak for itself. We don’t need ZBC or ZTV to create that impression; development must speak for itself.
19. Too many parasites around you
Those calling for ED Pfee in 2023 or 2028 don’t have any love for you. They are simply doing it to loot, eat and fill in their pockets, and at the same time backbite you. The end result is to discard you at some given point in the future. Remember, in 2017, Mugabe had bought regalia for the 2017 conference, cups, mugs, cars, flyers, billboards were designed, and later on, there was another political matrix in place.
20. Citizen’s perspective is critical
You need to engage the public, for your own good. What are people saying, and their views, and match them with your own decisions?
21. Progressive politics
We need Emmerson Mnangagwa, we need Nelson Chamisa, we need ZAPU, ZANU Ndonga, we need everyone on the table. There is no need to fight each other. We need the Kenyan arrangement, where Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta came together for progressive development.
22. Strategic Thinking around the current trajectory
We need a proper Economic Recovery framework to address all fundamentals, and there is a need for key Strategic Thinkers around all areas of Governance.
23. You have too many bootlickers around you
You need a team that keeps you on your toes. They must give you sleepless nights, planning and preparing better things for our country.
Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo is the Head of Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking – ZIST, and he can be contacted at tinamuzala@gmail.com