POLITICS aside, there is so much at stake at the moment and as has been the case in the recent past that keeps drawing the attention of our enemies, both local and outside Zimbabwe.

We have become used to enduring that peculiar life of persuasive attempts to change the course of history and negate the very basis of our existence as enshrined by the heroic exploits of the war of liberation.

Due to the pervasiveness of these attempts, Zimbabweans and particularly the Government has at times unnecessarily played into the hands of our enemies and plunging itself firmly into enemy territory as amplifying focus on politics rather than the economy.

This is why 2020 must give undivided attention to the economy and the economy alone.

Yet the question that gouges the mind with all its might is: Why are we expending all our energies on politics at the expense of the economy?

There is a simple explanation to this.

We have an opposition that gleefully takes instructions from its handlers to keep the country in a perpetual crisis mode, even where and when there is no crisis.

Events in the year gone by were evidence to this fatalistic strategy.

There is madness which revolves around the ‘logic’ that any leadership in Zimbabwe that is not or does not include the opposition must never be recognised.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new dispensation falls into that category.

This explains the nauseating calls for a so-called National Transitional Authority (NTA) which the likes of Ibbo Mandaza have been clamouring for.

The lampooning of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), a gathering of the July 30 2018 harmonised elections presidential aspirants by the opposition MDC-A further gives credence to the foregoing analysis.

The call for a NTA and the incessant attacks on POLAD are meant to achieve two things; namely saving MDC-A Nelson Chamisa’s faltering political career and secondly, creating false narratives of a failed ZANU PF Government as was the case with the disastrous Inclusive Government.

Informed people in the MDC-A have constantly whispered to this publication that while Chamisa wants dialogue, it is purely for personal reasons, emanating mainly from his rejection of the leader of opposition that President Mnangagwa offered him soon after the 2018 elections.

The whispers also suggest Chamisa is being held back in his push for talks with President Mnangagwa by so-called hardliners who include the boisterous Tendai Biti who believes that ZANU PF ‘must be allowed to collapse’ so that another Inclusive Government or NTA be put in place.

It is important to keep in mind the compelling fact that Biti is one of the brains behind Mandaza’s NTA proposal when unravelling this political ‘mystery’.

It is equally important to bear in mind the provocative nature of the MDC-A when it comes to unpacking its rather feeble attempt to isolate the country from the so-called global community.

Chamisa has been attempting to take to the streets through what he said was a ‘state of the nation address’.

The address was supposed to take place in Mbare on Tuesday and thereafter his supporters would unleash a wave of violent demonstrations.

The demonstrations would coincide with two global events that began on Tuesday; the UK-Africa Summit and Davos Summit.

It is not difficult to locate the import and logic behind the timing of Chamisa’s so-called ‘state of the nation address’.

The idea is to create the impression of a Zimbabwe in crisis, a Zimbabwe deserving international intervention.

That, as has been always the case with Chamisa’s attention seeking antics, was yet another spectacular flop.

What has eluded the MDC-A and those helping it to isolate Zimbabwe is that under President Mnangagwa, the country has already successfully navigated that barrier.

Zimbabwe is firmly back on the global economic stage and is a voice that cannot be easily wished away.

In the same vein, a country can only become a pariah state if and when it chooses to be, but Zimbabwe has taken a path that resonates with its citizens.

The Land Reform and Resettlement Programme whose success is being conveniently ignored by anti-Zimbabwe  proponents is a foundation from which the country can return to its status as a leading agricultural nation on the globe.

Government can and must never abandon the farmers who have been toiling on the land.

New measures to mitigate against the rampant effects of climate change must now be a priority.

We need to come up innovative strategies that can fuel massive irrigation projects so that we produce enough for the majority and the world.

We also need to come up with scientific innovations that can drive the productive sector.

The infrastructure needs urgent attention, revamping and rehabilitation and as with other sectors, prominence should be given to the sector.

To its credit, Government has announced that it will give priority to production.

The prospects look good for the country minus the energy sapping politics of course.

Let the year begin.

Let those with ears listen.