Go, register to vote
Kgosietsile Ngakaagae | Friday November 2, 2018 15:09
I am not done yet. I realise we are in the final days of the voter registration period so I pause to encourage you all to go and register to vote. That is the ultimate duty of any patriotic citizen; to play a role in the political destiny of their nation.
Politics trump everything. Politicians command armed forces without ever having fired a gun. They decide whether education will be free and if you should pay for healthcare. They take decisions over the nation’s treasury. They even make laws that govern your private conduct. They only fear your vote. It’s the ultimate authority over their conduct.
Again, politicians have a propensity for mischief. I mean conduct in all its expressions beginning with sexual misconduct down to wife battering, stock theft and plan theft. I do not say all. I am just relating my observations being a lawyer and reading newspapers. Examples abound.
I urge you to go out and register to vote. I know you carry a load of idle excuses. I have heard some folks say, there is nothing for which to vote. Others say that the opposition and the ruling party are fragmented and confused. Just go out and register to vote, regardless. Registering to vote is a different exercise to voting. We are concerned now, with registration, not voting. You can politik about voting later. Even then, I will tell you to go and vote. You can never have a good reason not to vote. The right to vote, which we take for granted, is still being fought for elsewhere.
Rivers of blood are flowing. Let us not make nonsense of it.
Just so you know, I agree that we are having a crisis. The main opposition (UDC) are confused. For now, they are more concerned with structural Umbrella problems than with your socio economic problems.
But that doesn’t mean it will always be that way. Who knows, they may just find a solution. I hope they do. We all deserve a heavily contested national election in 2019. We deserve a strong opposition.
Again, there are other opposition parties which are relatively stable. MELS and the AP, come to mind. Gauge their worth. They may be worthy of your vote. Whatever you do, stop making excuses. Just go and register to vote.
Likewise, if you are fatigued with the BDP, vote for someone else. If you are happy with it, vote for it.
I know they have a bucket-load of problems too. They are busy with presidential and baby elephant comforts whilst tens of children die of diarrhoea. I am not un-mindful what dilemmas you are facing.
If you cannot vote party, vote candidate. I will tell you the truth. I have voted in every election since I became of voting age. Because all parties sucked, I voted candidates, especially those that made an effort to sell themselves to me. When it comes to voting for candidates just vote for the best that is available.
Nobody promised you a perfect array of candidates. Politicians have never been chosen on a set criteria of merit. It’s all a populist lottery. Would you not wear the last, torn garment you have if your only other choice was to go out of the house naked?
Better still, just go and vote for women and bring a semblance of gender equity to parliament. I know women will neutralise your vote and vote men instead but it doesn’t really matter. Don’t act surprised that women generally don’t like each other. Have your ever seen men shouting at each other across home fences?
For those of you who have money- wherever you got it- the electoral process is an expensive process to deal with. Candidates go through a lot. That is why they enter parliament and councils hungry, and all they are thinking of is corruption. Support a worthy candidate.
Make a small donation to them. Maybe they will stop rendering themselves mortgaged to tenderpreneurs.
In any case, let us be clear about one thing. If you don’t vote you have no right to complain.
Because you can only complain that someone you sent out to do a job didn’t do it well.
Otherwise, those that voted will tell you that they are happy with the performance of their messengers.
The country will move on with or without your vote. But you shall shoulder full responsibility for not having voted.
Just look what we have had over the past 10 years and what we still have now all because you didn’t vote.
To the exception of a few, our cabinet is a dignified assembly of thugs. It is not the President’s fault. He didn’t have much of a pool to choose from. Youn cabinet should give me an office at the government enclave so I stay close to them.
Many of them know where the skeletons are buried. Some of you voted the thugs in by not voting, or failed to support those that sought to keep them out. We are failing our children by not voting.
In the name of Jesus Christ, go out and register to vote.