The Sunday News
WRITING for The New Times newspaper in Rwanda, Oscar Kimanuka argues that no country can develop or grow economically without peaceful coexistence among its population, and within its borders.
“Peace and security is an essential factor of human life. A peaceful and secure environment is critical to every society since it affects all aspects of economic and social development in a country, and is a necessary sine qua non to the realisation of human rights. These have direct effects on the creation of sound, competitive and equitable economic development, which ultimately has positive impact on the whole society. We should also remember that the world we live in has become increasingly more complex, with new security challenges developing, not just on a daily basis but every other minute — counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, multilateral peace-keeping reconstruction operations, just to mention but a few.
“No country can develop or grow economically without peaceful coexistence among its population, and within its borders. The fastest developing nations are among those with the best security structures or architecture, and having peace and tranquillity thriving within them. Taking the case of Rwanda, our country has recorded enormous development and viable economic progress over the last two decades. One key attribution to this positive move is the fact that Rwanda is among the few secure and peaceful states in Africa. This has propelled national production, trade, and investments in all sectors of the economy.”
As President Mnangagwa has repeatedly invited all patriotic Zimbabweans, at home and abroad, to come together and work towards the country’s economic recovery, it is important to learn from countries that have managed to turn around their economies. One lesson that can be drawn is that peace is crucial for economic development. Furthermore, the peace that prevails in the country should not be taken for granted, instead, it should be cherished all the time and guarded jealously.
Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and is on the right path to economic recovery with various programmes and policies put in place by Government to change people’s lives for the better. It is therefore, important that Zimbabweans do not get swayed from the right path by power-hungry and attention seeking opposition politicians who also want to falsely portray the country as chaotic.
The failed demonstrations by the MDC-A were all aimed at creating anarchy, thereby disturbing peace which is a key ingredient for economic turnaround. Once there is chaos, it becomes difficult for businesses to open, it becomes difficult for people to go to work and ultimately, it becomes difficult for foreign investors to come into the country to set up businesses.
We therefore, applaud the rest of the nation for ignoring the call by the MDC-A to go into the streets. The call was just meant to serve the interests of the opposition politicians and their handlers. We also want to applaud the police and the courts for putting the interests of the masses and the nation first, by banning the planned demonstrations as in the past, such demonstrations have turned violent, leading to loss of life, injury to people and destruction of property.
As alluded to by Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Larry Mavima, Government is addressing socio-economic challenges that are being faced by the nation to bring joy to the people. He went on to praise the people of Midlands for ignoring the MDC-A call.
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you the people in Midlands province for ignoring in totality the call by the MDC-Alliance to participate in civil demonstrations against the Government because of the austerity measures designed to correct the economic challenges that the country is going through at the moment,” he said.
Minister Mavima said people must know that the Second Republic has the people at heart.
“You all carried on with your normal business and social activities in peace and harmony. I want to assure you that we will never tolerate any acts of civil disobedience in the Midlands Province that bring with it violence and destruction of private and public property and in some cases personal injury. Again you demonstrated to the whole country, in fact, the whole world that as Midlanders you are law-abiding citizens and you respect the rule of law.”
