My outlook for Africans

My outlook is that Africans should be aware of the global predicaments happening across the globe and should not be caught dozing, and my stance is that we should not watch approaching catastrophes as if immobilized. What is at stake requires a realistic look at the African position without resorting to demagoguery or confused thinking. We must take into account the concrete reality that confronts most of our countries here and now (not idealized), and paying attention to the aspiration of the people, we must assess, without any exaggeration, our true capability to influence events at home and abroad. There are several political as well as social and cultural issues to be taken into considerations, but while such issues should not be ignored, it is the economic base that must be a starting point. These events call for a sober assessment of how to restructure our economies away from conditions that condemned our countries to be wholly dependent on, and heavily indebted to the world system.

The universal reality for most of our countries is that we have a proliferation of weak and self-seeking leadership who have helped to disrupt the development process and placed us firmly at the mercy of foreign interests. The African leadership and the elite where this leadership emerges from must wean itself -- as if a child dissociating from the bottle in order to grow -- away from the whole gamut of thinking that sees aid donors, creditors (financial speculators), and multilateral agencies as the only way to pursue development. This thinking and vertical structure for integrating our economies to the world has left us inherently weak and structurally unfit to take part profitably and benefit from the world market.

Africans at home and abroad should perform a self-examination that is wholesome to consciously cultivate a new African person - confident, unapologetic about who he/she is, knowledgeable about African history and conscious about the world and what role to play in it. These foundations will check on crude individualism and greed; low self-esteem, which makes people vulnerable to vices like bribery; ignorance, which can make a neighbour to slaughter another at the command of corrupt politicians; and the kind of self-hatred that brings disregard to other humans who look like us. The bottom line is that the African ruling elite and the circles from which they come (the educated and the rich), should go through a new thinking process in their world view if things are to change. When people change the way they look at things, the things they are looking at will also begin to change.

If we leave to others to perceive critically the themes of our time, thus fail to intervene actively in our reality, we will be carried along in the wake of any change. We can see that the times are changing but feel powerless to intervene or be part of that change; we feel submerged in the changes and fail to discern the dramatic significance of the important events of our time. This is what happens when we conform to anonymous authorities and adopt a self that is not ours. The more we do this, the more powerless we feel, the more we are forced to conform, and we gaze towards approaching catastrophes as though we are paralyzed.

Courtesy of Esau Mavindidze

My First Televised Interview with Liam Thorp of ATV News Part 2

Part 2 touches on family life and if my decision to enter politics is based on my parents influence and historical relevance to Zimbabwe politics. It also touches on the reasons why I do not feel obliged to join my father's former party ZANU PF and how I will work with the press as it is in the centre of political reporting. I conclude by giving my thoughts on the coming elections.

My First Televised Interview with Liam Thorp of ATV News Part 1

My first T.V interview was a lovely experience, though I must admit at times I was tongue twisted as I could not come up with clear phrases to express my views. I believe with more practice I will be able to polish up my skills so that I am able to share my views in a more influential and easily understandable manner. Please feel free to leave a comment good or bad are most welcome!!

My plan to officially enter politics

"Passionate about people and their rights in life, we are all created equal but born into an unfair world where there's classification based on access to wealth. I believe there should never be a price for education and health in society. I also strongly believe in promoting freedom of information, consultation and participation of citizens in the formulation and implementation of public policies.”

I think this is one question that was not a question but just a matter of time before my announcement of my official entry into the dirty political arena. It has taken me almost  4 years of public debate to fully appreciate the need to sacrifice some of my private life and contribute to my country's national development. They say "To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing."

When I officially announce my entry into politics, I plan to put in place a 5 year grassroots community outreach and engagement programme, to assist me collect up to date information of what kind of development and what processes people are currently utilising on the ground. As someone who has spent a greater part of my life living outside Zimbabwe I feel such an approach would be helpful in getting me reintegrated into society and identify a team of individuals to coordinate and share ideas on how best we can come up with effective solutions for our country.

My intentions are not a secret but focused on influencing change from the moment I offer to be of service to the people of Zimbabwe. I intend achieving this by practically demonstrating how individuals offering to be an example of how public entities should be transparent and accountable in their public duties in managing the affairs of citizens. In order to emphasise these key aspects of leadership, I intend sharing all my public activities that may be of interest to members of the public on this platform or by any other easily accessible means so that everyone has the ability to ask or share information they feel may be helpful in developing the country or improving my role as an aspiring leader. I will support this by declaring my personal assets and wealth, and will create a special web page where members of the public and donors supporting my proposed programmes through donations will be able to view how those donations are being utilised for any activity that I will be undertaking at the time. Those without internet access will be able to request such information by phone, text messaging, post or visiting my office. I hope by implementing and using this example, I will create a new blueprint that will change the public's relationship with their national leaders.

Like every human I will not always make the right choices or the most popular ones, but will endeavour to exhaust all possible avenues where there's a strong difference in opinion on national issues between fellow citizens. I must admit that I have very high aspirations, but are not naive to ignore the big and seemingly impossible looking challenges that have been faced by other leaders in their own endeavours to deliver people centred change. I may not currently have the capacity or resources to be able to effectively engage members of society  at national level, but are looking forward to identifying other young aspiring politicians from all corners of Zimbabwe willing to work alongside me under the same strict moral obligations to ensure transparency and accountability in our activities,hopefully sharing the responsibilities may perhaps help alleviate the amount resources required for us to share our vision and mission, as we seek to change the nature of our socio-economic and political environment whilst at the same time unpacking some of our pro-people policies.

If you believe my approach is authentic and worth exploring, please inbox me so we can start preparing ourselves for this 5 year proposed entry plan. My door is open to working with everyone, but I would see it as a bonus if I could get some experienced and qualified professionals to volunteer their services in helping design and implement this proposed idea to ensure it's success.  Anyone who understands the importance of nation building, knows that a country is not built by a few men and women acting alone but by a whole population working with them to achieve common goals, there is no single human specially chosen for any role, anyone can lead as long as they have the loyalty and trust of their fellow countrymen and women for support and guidance [two way communications not just top down].

I have explored and looked at the possibility of joining existing political parties, but from knowledge and experiences shared by fellow young aspiring leaders, the route is usually met with resistance rather than accommodation  I believe such a situation will only make it more difficult for me to share my views/ideas as chances are I will probably be stifled or silenced in my plans to be heard, as power hungry long serving political leadership may see me and others as a threat rather than an asset capable of making a viable contribution to nation building.

 Zimbabwean political parties need to reform their internal administrative and leadership processes, most of them have inherited the ZANU PF (old fashioned)  "top down leadership style" which lacks that bi-directional communication with people to help in the decision making process, and most of all the transparency and accountability levels are almost non-existent as it is almost difficult to question leaders about their decisions and actions, Even if they are questioned, they never bother responding or seeing their mistakes as a serious violation of the people's trust. Leaders should be impeached by a people's council should they be found breaking the law or not meeting their election promises.

"Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment."

I do not have any policies to share with you at this stage, but will formulate them as I engage society when I begin my journey of re-identifying with people on the ground.

I however trust that Zimbabwe already has good people policies, but they may just need modification and proper implementation. Please inbox be if you would like to assist me in any way make this proposed journey a success or email info@bananaclan.com