Story by Josephine Mugiyo
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has challenged ministries, government departments and agencies to undergo structural transformation as the country strives to attain an upper middle income society by 2030.
He was speaking at the last cabinet meeting for 2024 at the State House in Harare this Tuesday.
As 2024 winds up and 2025 beckons, government is looking ahead to the performance of the economy with attention being drawn to improving efficiency.
While acknowledging the various achievements scored in 2024, President Mnangagwa hammered on the need to ensure all line ministries and government departments are working towards attainment of vision 2030.
“As we close the year and set the agenda for 2025, the need for structural transformation of our ministries, departments and agencies to propel our vision 2030 is of paramount importance. We witnessed the role of ARDA in anchoring critical aspects of our agriculture food systems and transformation strategy, along with entities such as Zimtrade on the trade side and institutions of higher learning with regards science, technology and innovation. Similar pursuits must therefore be made to identify strategic agencies within your respective ministries to increase impactful programs at both the grassroots and macro-economic levels,” he said.
With technology at the cornerstone of development, President Mnangagwa expressed concern over the slow pace in the digitisation of government services.
“The digital revolution is the cornerstone of modernisation, industrialisation and efficient service delivery to drive sustainable economic growth. In roads in the digitalisation of government information and services are occurring at a worryingly slow pace. It is a misnomer that with the abundant skills and capacities among young people, our government has only a few functional and up to date ministry websites. More should be done to improve this situation. Likewise government communication dissemination strategies and overall messaging must be improved,” he said.
The 2023 to 2024 summer cropping season was disastrous due to the El Niño-induced drought and President Mnangagwa noted that the delivery of food aid and agriculture inputs to the grassroots must be prioritised.
