It is clear that Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini attempted to interfere with the duties of the Eswatini Investment and Promotion Authority(EIPA) by imposing an alleged corrupt investor Mobeen Meldi.
Firstly, it seems this Prime Minister does not understand his constitutional powers as a Head of Government,the PM is the Chairman of Cabinet and therefore, cannot tell the Minister of Commerce,Industry and Trade to accept an investor particularly if,the Ministry through EIPA, conducted the necessary due diligence and discovered that,the said investor is not credible.
As Chairman of Cabinet,the Prime Minister’s role is almost similar to that of Speaker or Senate President, he is expected to preside over Cabinet meetings, allow Ministers to debate, agree and disagree on issues before coming-up with what is known as a “Cabinet Resolution”.
Russell Mmiso Dlamini must understand that, he is also a Minister with a Portfolio, but the difference is that he is a “Prime Minister”.
Russell “yiNdvuna mane ngulena leNkhulu lephetse leletinye tiNdvuna,nguNdvunankhulu”.
The Prime Minister started to expose his ignorance with regards to his powers and duties as the PM when he announced that, Government will regulate the media,he wouldn’t have said or announced that without proper consultation with Information Savannah Maziya who later opposed and embarrassed him in Parliament.
Now,his latest blunder is that of visiting a controversial investor at night to discuss an alleged corrupt business deal.
When I was doing an internship with AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism in South Africa I remember my editor saying “Martin you must always monitor this;when an business person secretly meets a politician, the outcomes of that meeting might be corruption”.
Well, the controversial investor was within his rights to appeal to the highest authorities including the PM but,meeting the investor at night and in his house to plot how the construction of the biscuits factory was to be pushed amounts to abuse of power and by extension, corruption.
Clearly, in the evidence obtained by this Swaziland News, the Prime Minister wanted to bypass Commerce Minister Mancoba Khumalo and the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority,manipulate Parliament and Cabinet to impose an alleged corrupt investor, there’s a fundamental reason why investors are screened before being allowed to invest in any country.
In this matter,we need to applaud the Minister of Commerce and his officials within the Investment Promotion Authority,it is a global practice to conduct due diligence and vetting on potential investors otherwise, we might harbor criminals or terrorists in our country mushrooming as investors.
An investor must proof to the Investment Authority that, he/she has money to invest in the country and that, the money being invested is clean and not proceeds of crime.
The Ministry of Commerce will then provide the necessary documentary support upon being convinced that indeed, the investor is credible.
That Mobeen Meldi took pictures with a sitting Prime Minister and Member of Parliament(MP) Welcome Dlamini was dangerous because, the controversial investor might use those pictures to defraud people in other countries, he might claim to be powerful and well connected while using those pictures to enhance credibility.
The PM was not supposed to bypass the Minister responsible for investors and nicodemusly meet a controversial investor in fact, the Prime Minister must be reminded that,he was not appointed to impose decisions in Cabinet but to engage other Ministers as a collective, that’s his role as the Chairman of Cabinet.
In this country, we have various investors including Escponent who came here pretending to be credible and after being accepted by those in power,defrauded the people before disappearing.
So we need to allow officials within State institutions like the Eswatini Investments Promotion Authority to do their job because they are experts in screening investors and, they know the characteristics or financial capabilities of a credible investor.
This PM is a serious problem,he wants to interfere in everything, today he is interfering with the duties of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology(ICT) by attempting to regulate the media, tomorrow he wants to impose alleged fraudsters mushrooming as investors thus placing the country and financial institutions at a high risk of being defrauded.
In conclusion,let me warn His Excellency the Right Honorable Prime Minister against abuse of power, he must slow down, allow State institutions and Ministries to work without interference.
Indeed, the Ministers, Government,State enterprises officials have job descriptions and they must be allowed to work to the best of their abilities.
The problem is that,this Prime Minister considers himself as the most intelligent than all the citizens of this country, he always say “ngimi NdvunaNkhulu” and that’s where the problem starts.
A human being cannot be an expert in everything, even we (journalists) we inform the society everyday but, we are not experts in everything.
We consult experts when writing complicated articles otherwise we might expose our ignorance and pollute the minds of the entire population, it’s important to understand the power of your position and exercise those powers responsibly.
Allow Government officials and Cabinet Ministers Your Excellency to do their job, don’t interfere with the functioning of State institutions.
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini(pic: Gov).