“Sometimes I wish that those who claim they are working for the country or in the national interest would simply…simply fade away.”

“Hey you should appreciate them. I mean given the number of heads of government that we have accused of treason and…”

“And not to forget corruption.”

“That too and mismanagement – deliberate or otherwise.”

“Deliberate?”

“Deliberate is when you mismanage to make some hard cash, otherwise refers to incompetence.”

“Hmmm, so anyway the caretaker finance minister during the Senate committee meeting said that the IMF agreement will be followed to the letter and there was no fiscal space available to extend subsidies and…”

“So if all policies are given then why in the world one would accept the portfolio?”

“To work for the country.”

“If all policies are given by the Fund and if the selectee is unable to create some leverage with respect to the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policy then what in the world did the stakeholders base their selection on! I mean with all policy decisions given, what in the world has been added in terms of value…”

“Hey we focus on value addition only in terms of exports.”

“And after retirement, are they open to being exported?”

“Don’t be harsh on…”

“My issue is with all the finance ministers and central bank governors that we first exported to work in multilaterals and then imported to install them in extremely lucrative positions that did wonders for their resumes either do not have the expertise to think out of the box, the box being multilateral policies, or the gumption to work within the conditions imposed to generate some leverage bit by bit by bit.”

“Dear, dear, me, I see you are still on your high horse and the height of the horse is determined by what the real stakeholders, read elites in the state sector and the private sector, are willing to concede in terms of budgetary allocations and revenue generation sources.”

“Not much if the existing policies are anything to go by.”

“But one word of caution: since the advent of the caretaker setup the economy is taking a tail spin so really hear ye hear ye all stakeholders: something must give; either change the faces which would provide a short term reprieve and hopefully the short term will be long enough before elections are held and the buck passed on, or…”

“See the glass as half full.”

“It’s all empty from where I am at.”

“Not for me - our verbose politicians making the same case day after day after day on more than 709 channels, swallowed only by the diehard supporters while swing voters like me…”

“Ate their heart out! Told you the glass is half full.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023