Keorapetse exposes SONA shortcomings
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday November 21, 2022 06:00
Responding to Masisi’s SONA on Wednesday, Keorapetse said Masisi had a chance to critically self-appraise the polity he is managing and apply insightful indices to measure the quality of its democracy, the health of its economy, the wellbeing of its people, their safety and security.
Keorapetse added that Masisi was supposed to update the country on real progress measured against promises made four years ago when he ascended to the high office of President and give at least measurable results in figures of the achievements of his government.
“He should have told us how many Batswana he found in state of unemployment and how many lost their jobs under his presidency against the number he has helped to get jobs.
The President should have given us figures of unemployed graduates in 2018 and 2022 to demonstrate how his Presidency has helped varsity leavers. He should have given us figures of the gap between the haves and the have nots four years ago and how his policies have bridged this gap,” he highlighted.
The Selebi-Phikwe West legislator indicated that Batswana need figures of how the economy failed to honour the dignity of work by paying slave wages and how the situation has improved. He added that Masisi should have revealed how much the lowest paid government employee earned in 2018 and how much they are getting paid currently.
“How much was the salary of a security guard in a private security firm when you became President and now? What about a teller in a bank or a shop assistant at Choppies, Spar, Pick&Pay, Sefalana or Saverite supermarket, what was their salary in 2018 and how much do they get as pay now in 2022? How much an average miner earned in 2018 and what they earn, measured against the rising cost of living?” the UDC Member of Parliament further asked. He noted that the word ‘unemployment’ appears only once in the 66 pages speech by the President and words and phrases such as graduate unemployment, youth unemployment, inequality or inequalities and underemployment don’t appear at all in his SONA speech.
“The word poverty appears only once in the SONA of 66 pages.
Employment opportunities appear once in the speech while job creation doesn’t appear at all. Shortage of drugs is mentioned only once, whereas there is no mention of health crisis. There is no mention of the words or phrases democratisation, democratic reforms or electoral reforms,” he highlighted. Keorapetse, who was giving his inaugural speech as LoO, said they need to know the rate of unfair labour practices which can be measured in the number of trade disputes at labour offices and cases at the Industrial Court before and after Masisi ascended to the high office. He said they need to know whether Masisi has improved labour laws and policies.
“Batswana need to know the numbers of the poor in 2018 and 2022. They deserve to know which major sectors of the economy are now firmly in the hands of Batswana ba sekei which were under the control of foreigners in 2022. We expected the President to state in numbers the amount of FDI as percentage of GDP in 2018 and how it has improved since then, appraising us on the economic value of his international travels; where he has cut trade or economic deals and amounts of same in pula terms,” he pointed out.
Keorapetse also said the President should have been candid to Batswana on how his policies have made Batswana to be less indebted to financial institutions compared to when he got into office. He emphasised that SONA presents an opportunity to account and answer to Batswana on the disposal of the President’s constitutional power and duties, to act upon criticism or requirement made of him and his government and accept (some) responsibility for failure, incompetence, or deceit.