Citizen Engagement in Monetary Policy Making in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The research sought to examine citizen engagement in monetary policy making in Zimbabwe with special focus on the existing frameworks for engagement and the extent to which government engage the citizens. Identification of opportunities and limitations of citizen engagement was another central objective of the study. The research adopted a mixed methodology in which a survey was carried out to obtain the perceptions of citizen towards the engagement process whilst qualitative data was obtained from identified key informants. The study was underpinned by the Elite Theory which states that policies are a result of elite consensus and not the demands of the citizens. Group Theory was also used as an alternative way through which government can adopt in a bid to place citizens through various societal groups at the center of monetary policy making. The study explored the level of confidence which citizens have towards monetary policies in Zimbabwe. In addition, respondents’ views were sought in as far as limitation and opportunities are concerned. The research findings lay bare that citizens are aware of the legal and institutional frameworks for engagement, however their confidence in these frameworks is very low. Another finding of the research was that the majority of citizens have not been engaged in monetary policy matters in the past five years. This has caused the lack of confidence in such policies which result in a lot of policy friction and resistance. However, a positive outcome of the research was that the majority of the citizens are still willing to participate in monetary policy making if given an opportunity, hence the government should take advantage of the available opportunities such as technology and social media to initiate robust citizen engagement process. Thus, the future of citizen engagement lies in the ability of government to seize such opportunities and at the same time working towards addressing grey areas such as polarization and lack of awareness which threatens the very existence of effective citizen engagement mechanisms. Thus, the government is encouraged to engage citizens in all monetary policy issues to boost confidence which is of much importance for any policy success, especially monetary ones. This is due to the fact that, without confidence in policy, it would be a mammoth task for government to implement and let alone enforce such policies.