eBusiness Weekly
Martin Kadzere
Senior managers at parastatals and state enterprises will no longer have a full company vehicle benefit as Government moves towards rationalising costs of state entities.
A recent directive by Finance and Economic Planning secretary Willard Manungo also prescribed vehicles which state entities should buy for its chief executives and directors.
CEOs will now be entitled to Toyota Prados, Jeep Cherokees or Land Rover Discovery models while their immediate subordinates will be entitled to Toyota Fortuners.
Heads of departments or directors will now be entitled to locally assembled four-wheel drives.
Parastatals will be required to come up with loan vehicle schemes for its senior managers subject to approval by Treasury and The Office of the President and Cabinet.
Sources told Business Weekly the move was in line with a new economic order involving the implementation of a comprehensive and coherent expenditure management strategy that prioritises development programmes.
“The directive was issued in a circular to parastatals and state enterprises by Manungo on March 27 and this is in line with rationalisation of costs,” said the source.
Efforts to get a comment from Manungo were unsuccessful as his mobile phone went unanswered. Despite their underperformance and dependence on budgetary support in some instances, parastatals’ bosses have been getting hefty salaries and perks.
State entities have also been criticized for buying luxury cars, which are very expensive to maintain, for their managers at the expense of decent service delivery.
The sources said where local assemblers are unable to supply the vehicles, a written request can be made seeking permission to import the vehicle for senior managers.
The latest directive, if not resisted will help local vehicle assemblers increase production capacity. Previously, line Ministries and parastatals openly defied a directive issued by the Office of the President and Cabinet through a circular in 2011 compelling them to purchase motor vehicles from local assemblers. The decision was meant to help local car assemblers, squeezed by competition from imports. Local assemblers are struggling due to low volumes while millions of dollars are being spent on vehicles that can be assembled locally.
