FIXING an ailing economy such as ours is always going to be a challenge for our politicians. BY TAPIWA GOMO This is not because it is not achievable. It just does not sit well with the vested and competing political and personal interests among the leadership. We have read tonnes of economic recovery blueprints and more will come and the economy will not grow because the stakes are higher in these interests and have more control over matters of national interest such as economic growth. Our history shows that we do not lack ideas to revive the economy, neither do we lack the resources nor are we incapable of rising again. The biggest challenge has been lack of commitment and political will by those in power to prioritise the country. The day they wake up to that realisation, it will take less than half a decade before our economy starts growing. An example to illustrate this lack of commitment is found in what is termed fight against corruption. For starters, in a normal environment, corruption cannot happen without the blessing or involvement of those in power. And this explains why the media and police can uncover many high profile corruption cases and yet no one is jailed, neither does corruption end nor those in power condemn it when it is highlighted. The little we hear about zero tolerance to corruption is nothing but political expedience. It is what is politically right to say — they do not mean it because if they did either their lives or those of the corrupt would be in danger. Going by the adage, “the ruling party cannot reform itself out of power”, the same way those in power cannot stamp out corruption as doing so is tantamount to kicking themselves out of power. Corruption is their lifeline — it is why they are there. That intricate symbiotic relationship between political power and corruption does a lot of damage for prospects of economic recovery and democracy. This is because it is the corrupt cartels — which are not elected into power — which tend to control government policy in order to protect their interests. And in many cases, the political leadership tends to depend on resources from the cartels in order to secure their next mandate, a situation which sees the elected officials handing over policy-making powers to the cartels. These relationships are common everywhere, including in thriving democracies but major differences lie in that in other countries it is the markets or those who control the formal economy who attempt to sway political dynamics in their favour. But this is done in a regulated manner and in a context that preserves national interests. In Africa in general, the corrupt cartels are not regulated and their behaviour is both corrosive and extractive as they have unhindered access to national resources and siphon them outside country — a scenario that undermines the very notion of national interest. Because the national leadership is captured by these non-productive cartels, elected leadership is unable to call them to order as doing so is detrimental to their own political caree