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Industry and Commerce permanent secretary Mavis Sibanda on Thursday urged chartered governance professionals to continue participating in national development by providing professional leadership in both private and public organisations.
“Your profession is our conscience. You are our conscience,” she told participants at the annual conference of the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe in Victoria Falls.
“Government takes your profession seriously,” she said. “Remain alive to global changes as you strive to position a future-fit chartered governance and accountancy profession in Zimbabwe,” she said before declaring the conference officially open.
She praised the institute for the partnerships it has entered into with the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.
“I wish to challenge you to expand your collaborations with other government ministries and parastatals to ensure that good corporate governance principles are enhanced in public sector operations,” she said.
Dr. Sibanda said the conference theme, which is ‘Marching towards Vision 2030: Positioning a Future-fit Chartered Governance and Accountancy Profession in Zimbabwe’, was timely and in sync with the Second Republic’s thrust of achieving greater economic prospects across all sectors of the economy to promote sustainable economic growth and development.
“This year’s theme is timely, given the centrality of the profession in prudent planning, resource utilisation, and implementation of strategic goals at both institutional and national levels,” she said.
Dr. Sibanda said high-quality corporate governance and accounting are key ingredients in improving transparency and facilitating mobilisation of both domestic and international investments.
“Moreover, these fundamentals aid in creating a sound investment climate, thereby fostering investor confidence and promoting financial stability in the economy,” she said.
She challenged conference participants to be open-minded, expand their horizons and consolidate the gains made so far in the economy through what she said was the prevailing macroeconomic stability.
“Today we are witnessing consistent stability in the exchange rate, a declining month-on-month inflation rate and improved capacity utilisation by industry, just to name but a few key economic variables which are necessary for promoting economic growth in the country,” she said.
“The positive trend is a true testimony that the robust policies and cocktail measures being implemented by the government are bearing fruits.
“May I, therefore, invite you professionals to take advantage of the many opportunities prevailing in the economy as a result of a plethora of macroeconomic reforms that the government is pursuing,” she said.
She said the institute remains versatile and is widely known for promoting a culture of good corporate governance, accountability, and efficient administration of public and private resources.
“In doing so you continue to immeasurably contribute towards the building of our economy,” she said.
Responding to Dr. Sibanda’s address, the president of CGAIZ, Mr. Jonathan Dube, said that Zimbabwe was “at the centre of our heart”.
“We have to ask ourselves what legacy are we going to leave as professionals. Do we want to leave a country that has corruption or thrives on financial engineering?” he asked, adding, to applause from conference participants, that the institute supports government initiatives and pledged to work with the government.
Later, during a panel discussion, Dr. Sibanda said there was a lot that the industry was doing but it was not being publicised.
“Every time I visit industries there is a lot going on,” she said.
The conference is being attended by more than 200 participants.