Mugabe opens new parliament

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe opened parliament on Thursday with a pledge of government action to tackle the country’s severely battered economy. Mugabe said that the government’s millennium economic recovery plan aims to “remove the prime causes of inflation and to restore macro-economic stability in order to create conditions essential for economic growth and development”. The economy is saddled with record inflation levels, a critical shortage of foreign currency and fuel, and a widening budget deficit. Donor funding has been slashed in response to the government’s failure to stick to its economic targets, and international concern over the political violence in the run-up to last month’s legislative elections. Mugabe said that “the set of measures we have put in place” should result in a deficit of around five percent of GDP and, with planned reforms of the energy sector, ensure reliable supplies of fuel and electricity. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to acquire five million hectares of white-owned commercial farms for black resettlement. Opposition Movement for Democracy (MMD) Secretary-General Welshman Ncube dismissed the speech as containing “no major policy initiatives” and having failed to properly target any of the issues affecting Zimbabweans. He pointed out that the address began with a list of Zimbabwe’s foreign commitments “rather than the problems here”. “I wanted to hear a fair and honest assessment of the economic crisis we’re in and measures to resolve the economic crisis; measures to deal with corruption and a virtually collapsed health system,” Ncube told IRIN. “The country is in a state of lawlessness, but there was nothing about a return to the rule of law.” “There was no explanation on the failure to control the budget, and the figures for the expenditure overrun are clearly wrong. A five percent budget deficit is a very, very conservative figure,” Ncube claimed. Before opening parliament, Mugabe swore in his new cabinet. Among the ministers are a prominent group of young technocrats that news reports have suggested would be key to pulling the economy out of its current crisis. The presidential address to parliament can be viewed at: http://www.gta.gov.zw/Presidential%20Speeches/presidential_speeches_main.htm