Mnangagwa is 18 years younger than Mugabe so I believe that the next president should be below normal pensionable age, that is below 60.
Why do I say Mnangagwa should go it alone?
I say so because people want change in their lives, not so-called democracy. That is for politicians and those who already have booming economies. People want food on their tables. They want cash when they need it. They want jobs. Those who want to go into business must have a passion for that and not go into business because they cannot get jobs. A coalition government cannot deliver this. Lasting democracy comes after economic emancipation. It is not the other way round.
Studies have shown that coalition governments are attractive on paper. They signify a reconciliatory attitude but they are ineffective.
One study says concerned parties of a coalition may call themselves allies but they are actually opportunists. Because you want to make everyone happy you have to sacrifice on various key policies and important programmes.
It says coalitions provide bad government because they are unable to take a long-term view.
“Sometimes an ideological compass is necessary for governments to navigate in difficult political and economic waters, and coalitions lack such a unifying philosophy.”
Mnangagwa was brought in because his party felt that Mugabe and his G40 cabal had diverted from the ideological campus of the party. At least that is what we were told when the military intervened, unless this was just an excuse to take over.
The study goes on: “In addition planning for the long-term often requires decisions to be made that are unpopular in the short-term. Coalitions often fail such tests because temporary unpopularity may encourage one of the parties involved to defect, in search of a populist advantage.”
Besides, the coalition government, the study argues, “is actually less democratic as the balance of power is inevitably held by the small parties who can barter their support for concessions from the main groups within the coalition. This means that a party with little popular support is able to impose its policies upon the majority by a process of political blackmail”.
We learnt from the last government that while things appeared to be stable during the coalition government, they collapsed immediately after ZANU-PF took over.
I don’t think anyone wants a repeat of that.
Does this sound like I am advocating for another dictator? Yes, in a way.
Zimbabwe needs someone who can make firm decisions to turn around the economy. It needs someone who can end corruption, someone who can bring back discipline, someone who can get people to work.
This does not need any distractions and it can be done. Paul Kagame of Rwanda did it. John Magufuli of Tanzania is doing it. They did not need coalition governments to do it.
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