MY area has gone for three good days without electricity, with no one having the courtesy to apologise for what is happening.
Power outages are becoming the biggest impediment to government’s Vision 2030, a blueprint that seeks to fundamentally transform Zimbabwe to an upper-middle-income economy.
Zesa Holdings, a State-owned company, is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Zimbabwe.
Zesa has several subsidiaries which include Zimbabwe Power Company, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company, Zesa Enterprises that work together for the delivery of electricity.
Towns and cities are in total darkness on many occasions, save for a few buildings that have powerful solar back-up systems.
One wonders why a city like Harare cannot be supported by functioning solar lights along major roads.
The level of incompetence on the part of ministers, directors or mayors leaves a lot to be desired and one wonders why these people continue to be in office despite their horrendous performance.
The state of roads in suburbs is nauseating to say the least.
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Roads are now impassable with potholes sprawled everywhere, making it difficult to manoeuvre vehicles.
That alone is a serious catalyst for road traffic accidents and I am left flummoxed as to why the responsible authorities allow our roads to dilapidate to such disenchanting levels.
Drive to Glen View, Budiriro, Kuwadzana or Dzivarasekwa, you will surely wonder why the Zimbabwe National Road Administration collects our money from January to December.
Does our Transport and Infrastructural Development minister know how crummy our suburban roads are?
Why does one accept to be a minister and promise to serve the populace then along the way go the opposite direction?
Road infrastructure needs attention as a matter of urgency and those who are in close proximity to responsible authorities should convey this important message.
The cost of servicing vehicles is beyond reach with a lot of money needed to fix the suspension systems of vehicles.
With poor liquidity at the moment, there are high chances of road traffic accidents as only few vehicles manage to undergo major service.
This is one of the reasons for the high number of road traffic accidents today.
There was pandemonium at two of our referral hospitals this week when health service providers demonstrated at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals over shortages of basic utilities such as water and electricity.
For a country to have a strong health delivery system, the World Health Organisation came up with six building blocks in 2007.
These building blocks include service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, health system financing and governance.
If one pillar is unavailable, there will be a huge gap which is difficult to close.
The sad news about our health system is that there is inadequate funding and budgetary allocation to the Health ministry.
The funding has never reached the stipulated 15% of national fiscus as espoused in the Abuja Declaration of 2001.
The Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry should do more to finance the health sector and if our country is to be a hub for medical tourism, we need serious investment in the health sector.
The Health ministry is riddled with a plethora of problems ranging from mass brain drain, poor health infrastructure, obsolete equipment, maladministration of clinics and hospitals, corruption to mention just but a few.
There are many clinics in the rural areas that are running without BP machines, a situation that is quite unpleasant considering that we have pregnant women who should be checking their blood pressure regularly.
We have great potential to reduce the maternal mortality ratio from 363 per 100 000 live births if we strengthen our primary healthcare in accordance with the 1978 conference.
In short, there should be improved utility supplies in the country not the current situation where it’s hard to access water, electricity, gas or health services.
We should shun being a laughing stock for the region yet we are the richest with over 60 minerals in the country.
Let us all shun corruption in the country!
