STRAIGHT TALK
MARK BARNES: Modern leaders really only have a hundred days before promise turns into defence
Zimbabwe's Emmerson Mnangagwa has it all to do, and he’d better prove that before elections due within nine months or so
It was probably the immediate and deliberate first actions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when he took office as president of the US in 1933, during the Depression that led to the modern-day reference to "the first 100 days". By the time he had been in office for 100 days, he had passed 15 pieces of legislation and crafted what would become known as the New Deal, which would revive the US. There has been a spate of new world leaders (and some repeats) in recent times. In most democratic governments, the president’s term of office is finite, as it should be, no matter the quality or achievements of the incumbent. Enduring achievements and strategic changes take time to implement and the sooner one gets started, the better. It is, however, equally important — even more so in circumstances of threat or crisis such as inequality, poverty or unemployment — that the changes go beyond simply tinkering with the current structures but rather towards making some fundamental changes.The decisio...
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