Trade policy holds and the 'economic transformation' question
Friday, February 07, 2020
New broom: Matsheka delivering the budget speech on Monday PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
The fundamental question from Dr. Matsheka’s maiden delivery is: What will it take to truly transform the economy, and does the budget demonstrate that appetite? If we judge the budget entirely on the resource allocation and reallocation metric, the verdict is wobbly.
Dr. Matsheka’s speech was true to form in terms of following the template of government constructed budgets. It was also a gloriously painted picture of positive rhetoric dashed with a serious expression of concern for state-owned enterprises and their inefficiencies.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...