PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday took a swipe at his Cabinet ministers for failing to submit their memoranda, leading to some relevant matters not being discussed during their weekly meetings.
Ministers are expected to submit an individual memorandum or memoranda when seeking a Cabinet decision on a policy proposal, and these are brought by individual ministers or by several ministers working together.
In his address to the final Cabinet meeting this year at State House in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa expressed displeasure that some items were not discussed due to non-submission of relevant Cabinet memoranda.
“Such oversight or dereliction of duty should not be repeated in the coming year. Another critical area of concern is the increasing tendency by some ministers to table substantive matters under Any Other Business,” Mnangagwa said.
“This practice must stop. Equally, the late submission of Cabinet memoranda is retrogressive to constructive debate and to good administration, transparency, collective responsibility and accountability.”
In 2021, Mnangagwa introduced performance contracts for Cabinet ministers and heads of public institutions including local authorities in an effort to foster a culture of accountability and good governance.
However, the majority of those who signed the performance contracts have performed below par, while some been linked to corruption.
“Be advised that, going forward, you are called upon to regularly undertake critical and succinct self-evaluation of programmes and projects under your portfolios, to inform focused and co-ordinated programming,” said the President, adding that ministers should not be found wanting as far as the ruling party’s 2023 election promises are concerned..
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“As such, the Cabinet must now accelerate the implementation of National Development Strategy 1 so that our National Vision 2030 of ‘an empowered and prosperous upper-middle-income society’, is attained much earlier,” he said, while calling on the Cabinet ministers to continue working even during the festive season.
“Hence, Cabinet recess does not mean that we close our offices completely, government business must not be disrupted and your availability to attend to issues, remain integral,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa said government was working on measures to mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon which has been predicted to cause a serious drought across the country.
The dry weather conditions linked to El Niño have already led to the death of livestock and wildlife while the onset of rains has been delayed by more than five weeks.
“I want to assure the nation that the government is closely monitoring the weather, with signs increasingly confirming the El Niño prediction of a normal to below-normal rainfall season,” he said.
