A wonderful personal reminder about how to live life. Let’s imagine the last word in this excerpt being Zimbabwe.

I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but its pursuit. I believe in the journey, not the arrival; in conversation, not monologues; in multiple questions rather than any single answer. I believe in the struggle to remake ourselves and challenge each other in the spirit of eternal forgiveness, in the awareness that none of us knows for sure what happiness truly is, but each of us knows the imperative to keep searching. I believe in the possibility of surprising joy, of serenity through pain, of homecoming through exile.

And I believe in a country that enshrines each of these three things, a country that promises nothing but the promise of being more fully human, and never guarantees its success. In that constant failure to arrive — implied at the very beginning — lies the possibility of a permanently fresh start, an old newness, a way of revitalizing ourselves and our civilization in ways few foresaw and one day many will forget. But the point is now. And the place is America.

(From Andrew Sullivan’s blog)

Here’s a press release from ZINASU.

I’d suggest that the GNU isn’t barking up the wrong tree. It is the Wrong tree and it’s Barking mad.

GNU Barking Up the Wrong Tree

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is alarmed that political parties in the GNU have made an ill-advised decision to increase seats in parliament. Whilst there is need for gender equality in all government bodies, parties in the GNU are going about ensuring this in the wrong way.

Currently, the legislature is monolithic in comparison to the size of our country. To add sixty more seats will result in heavy drainage of financial resources that can be channeled towards education, health and other vital sectors.

According to plans for enlarging parliament, 60 female MPs will be seconded by political parties on a proportional representation basis in line with the number of seats the parties would have garnered in elections. This means that these sixty legislators will be MPs with no constituencies. Already the country has over thirty non-constituent MPs in Parliament appointed by the president and heads of political parties in the GNU; to then add sixty more to this number will result in a perversion of the purpose of parliament which is to represent citizens from various constituencies.

If political parties are serious about gender equality they should implement quotas for contesting parliamentary elections in their parties that promote the afore-mentioned notion.

If parties in the GNU persist on including this ill-thought and ill-fated arrangement in the draft constitution it is guaranteed that the latter is seriously going to be mobilized against during the referendum stage.

Noting the absurd and avaricious demands that are made by parliamentarians from time to time and being aware of the huge drain that the financial needs of the current Legislature effects on national coffers, there is no way that ZINASU, can in good conscience allow this plan to proceed.
If the afore-mentioned plan somehow contained provisions for introducing parliamentarians that have a definite capacity to better the quality of legislation and debate in parliament it would have been better.

For if truth be told our parliamentarians are known for propelling some of the most ridiculous arguments, which include among others, advocating for legalization of marijuana, attempting to legislate laws that ensure that women dress shabbily to lessen the preponderance of HIV/AIDS and arguing that men should take drugs that cause them to want less sex as a means of combating the afore-mentioned disease. Given this background, to then superfluously add more parliamentarians into the legislature without ensuring ways in which the quality of their contributions can be enhanced is highly retrogressive.

ZINASU

It’s so sad to read some remarks that the President of Zambia makes in public. During his first days I used to give him the benefit of the doubt that the media had just caught his out of context words and that he was more on the humorous side.

I have picked two remarks made by Sata, which I found to be rather disturbing.

At the Rio+20 world conference on climate change and sustainable development in Rio, Brazil, President Sata who was inviting delegates to the United Nations World Tourism Conference next year had this to say:

“Come to Zambia and see what we have. We will waive some visa requirements and give you a visa on arrival. We have enough water for everyone, including the Greeks and Italians. We have wild animals and there is a lot more to see. The only thing we do not have in abundance is whiskey and that is because whiskey pollutes the environment.” Read story here

On a visit to Zimbabwe to officially open the 53rd Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo, and having arrived at State House for a State Banquet, President Mugabe asked the First Ladies Grace Mugabe and Dr Christine Kaseba to join them for a photo shoot. But President Sata retorted: “Let them wait. After all they joined us later in our lives.” Read story here

Does Zambia have a clown in their state house?

I am shocked to learn that the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) says its costly for them to deploy meter readers countrywide. Its now very clear why the pre-paid meters were never a favourite for the power company. I wonder what would be the outcome if we all had prepaid meters and we all pre-pay $20 a month since in Zimbabwe electricity is only sometimes available. I am sure most household accounts would  always have a credit balance.
- Sophia, Harare

On June 26th traffic police stopped me for not obeying a Stop sign cnr East and Natal roads in Avondale. I suppose I ‘paused’ and proceeded in a safe manner but whatever … I’m not contesting that. However, two officers on the scene told me I had to pay there and then. The first said if I chose not to I would have to go to the station (Avondale) and be taken to court. The second, a superior, said they no longer issue tickets so if I did not pay on the spot (and be issued with a receipt) I would have to proceed to Avondale police station where a docket would be opened against me and the courts would decide whether to pursue me or not.

I’m confused. I refused to pay on the spot as I felt it was a violation of my rights and opted to go to Avondale police station where a third officer explained that they no longer allow you to pay within seven days as the public (“people like you” were his exact words) were abusing that option.

I just want to know is this true or not? If it’s true why hadn’t I heard anything about it until I found myself in that very uncomfortable situation? Is this common knowledge and I am simply uninformed? Also, can they just do that; revoke that option because it’s convenient for them?

- Kubatana subscriber in Harare

Comment: This is news to us – and according to this statement from the ZRP Public Relations Department in March 2012, it is untrue. Meanwhile, Chihuri reckons they’re trying to get rid of the corruption in ZRP. So when did it become a legal requirement to move around with money on you? The police assume that if you drive a car, you have money in your pocket. Have you had similar experience? Please share it with us and tell us what you think needs to be done: info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Individual Consultancy Services for the Results Based Programme: Cordaid Zimbabwe
Deadline: 20 July 2012

The Cordaid Zimbabwe Office is seeking qualified individual consultants as following:

Background
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MoHCW) and the World Bank have appointed Cordaid Zimbabwe, to manage the Results Based Financing (RBF) program in Health focusing on Maternity Child Health (MCH) Care in Zimbabwe, in close partnership with the MoHCW and the World Bank. Cordaid has established an office in Harare and has rolled out the programme into 18 districts of Zimbabwe.

The RBF program, which is being implemented by Cordaid, provides subsidies, directly linked to services delivered at primary health care level, i.e. rural health clinics and district hospitals, based on output performance indicators with the aim to improve the availability, accessibility and utilisation of quality health services at district and rural health centre level.

As we continuously seek to improve the programme, we are building a database with experts in the fields of Health System Strengthening, Quality of Care, Maternal and Child Health, Health Financing, Health Economics and/or Public Finance, Statistics. Cordaid Zimbabwe would like to call upon individual consultants with demonstrated experience in one of these areas and who are interested to offer consultancy service during the programme to submit their full detailed Curriculum Vitae and include the past consultancy services that has been executed before for our reference.

Scope of Assignment
Assignments will be of varied nature and may run from 1 week to 3 months according to the requirement, activity and outcome expected. Any field visit will depend on the scope of the assignment and the stage of the programme. The full scope of the assignment will be detailed in the Terms of Reference when the Cordaid Zimbabwe calls up consultants from the listed database.

Based on your qualifications, an individual consultant will be selected in accordance with the procedures set out in the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers (current edition).

Qualifications
-Consultants must have completed higher professional education (master level), preferably in public health, health economics, health system management, health administration, business administration, database development/data management and analysis and community health.
-Fluency in English – both verbal and in writing is a must. Ability to speak read and write one of the local languages will be an advantage.
-Understanding of health systems strengthening approaches and service delivery within a constrained operational environment, with Zimbabwe experience.
-Experience of working with different stakeholders and providing advice and skills development will be an added advantage.

The interested consultants are invited to submit their application to the following email address: Hr.zimbabwe [at] cordaid [dot] net

For additional information, please contact Arjanne Rietsema: arjanne.rietsema [at] cordaid [dot] net

Cordaid Zimbabwe will compile the consultancy database according to your field of experience and subsequently we will approach you and update on any opportunities that may arise.