Government needs to start having conversations with its citizens

In the early days after President Emmerson Mnanagwa took over as president from the late Robert Mugabe, he was seen all over the place.

Whether it was discussion with the business sector or meeting the youths, he put a lot of emphasis on engagement.

His ministers too were on hand. It was pronounced as a new way of doing business. The concept of a listening president who takes on board what the people say and serves.

Even the media could doorstep him, whether at the late Morgan Tsvangirai’s home or while walking into the Harare International Conference Centre.

As time has moved the distance between the government and some of its people has started growing. To varying degrees, access has become restricted and what we have announcements or speeches in controlled spaces.

On some occasions, certain ministers invited for events instruct that organisers keep the media as far away from them as possible. Media is told that under no circumstances are they permitted to approach the said minister, which removes doorstepping, a critical aspect of the engagement.

Multiple launches are made of this programme or the other. Deals are signed. The people are not educated much about them and informed of what they get should the deals come through in real terms. To this day, many of us have no idea what we signed with the Russians, Chinese or whoever, in detail.

Even before the pandemic, other than in spaces where there was the launch of something or the other, it has become more difficult for many to have conversations with the presidium. What is telling is that since his coming to power, the president has had one radio interview in Zimbabwe, which was at CapiTalk. There has been an interview with ZBC TV while outside Zimbabwe he has had a few.

Among his ministers, we hear some critical government positions from their interviews with international media. Parliament as recently as 2019 bemoaned that some policies were being announced by the Finance minster to international media before it had been notified. And if these elected representatives of the people cannot get the information, what more their constituents.

So even when the government feels some of its positions are reasonable, they will not be accepted as such because they are not part of an ongoing conversation. Noone really likes to be told what to do and so they push back resulting in incendiary language becoming de facto communication.

The weekly cabinet briefings will be pointed to as examples of when the government opens itself up to scrutiny, that engages the people. They are themselves laudable for the purpose they achieve.

But again, a lot of them are announcements and often the questions asked as follow-up are based on the agenda set by cabinet.

That said, while the government can be faulted for these and many things, the citizen has to start making use of the spaces he/she has for engagement. The engagements around the ominous Cybercrime and Cyber Security bill have been discouraging. It might stem from a lack of confidence in the system or ignorance about it but something needs to be done about. In rural areas where much reliance on the local government is higher, there will be more interaction. In the urban areas, particularly Harare, the obsession will be access to the minister or the president.

That said, the biggest megaphone sits with the government, whose communication has to be based on the principle of compassion and ensuring citizens feel included in the things that matter.

It is critical now as a section of the country has expressed its dissatisfaction openly with the government pushing a #ZimbabweanLivesMatter hashtag. Whether the government thinks they are a minority or not is neither here nor there. They need to be talked to as well.

After all, government is a franchise that serves at the pleasure of the people.

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