The army should not be neglected

Mmegi Editor | Friday March 14, 2014 15:48

Our political leadership, specifically in the opposition, has, and rightly so, often argued that financing defence should not be done at the detriment of other more pressing matters such as education and health.

There is no doubt that this country should, and has been, investing in both the infrastructure and the systems in health and education. Of course the matter of success or otherwise is a different debate, the fact is that significant attention has been given to these sectors.

There has been a general aversion to sizable defence spending in the last decade. In many cases the critics of this idea warn us that we have more important priorities than buying the next tank or fighter jet. This is a position that makes sense and often we have cautioned against an overzealous dedication to defence spending. As much as it is important to keep an eagle’s eye on military spending, we must accept sustaining our forces is very critical. By establishing the army in the first place was an acknowledgement of its necessity hence the need to look after it.

While the opposition and some critics often found it convenient to blame defence spending for most of our fiscal woes, the Botswana Defence Force bore the brunt of a reduced interest from the high office.  The relocation of Lt General Ian Khama from the barracks has apparently translated into negligence of the military ware, ostensible because he has a new love in Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS).

The emergence of the DIS as the blue-eyed boys of the political establishment has meant that the BDF and Police Service receive little attention.

We cannot confidently ascertain to the fact that the BDF has been left without enough resources. The Air Wing, as reported elsewhere in this paper, is in a sorry state, especially looking at our carrier capability or the fighter component. The debate over whether we need more carriers or fighters aside, the reality is that we have shirked our responsibility towards our defence systems.

To learn that the BDF’s Air Wing is crippled should make every Motswana stand up. Why would we establish such an institution if we are not prepared to equip and maintain it accordingly. We hold the position that we should get our priorities right as a nation and invest in the most important areas.

However, we also think that the neglect of our defence cannot be excused. We should be able to maintain an affordable Air Wing that is well equipped and functional. We should be able to do the same for the rest of our military and indeed the police.  We are however, alive to the concerns raised by many observers and the public in general, among them the absence of accountability and transparency in budgetary matters at the barracks. This makes it very difficult for anyone to support additional funding for the army.