Death of Christmas spirit
Baboki Kayawe | Friday December 23, 2016 13:06
While its true getting the spirit of Christmas means different things to different people, to some it is that beautiful warm feeling of no place like home for the holidays, to others it is the excitement of shopping for gifts and wrapping them by the tree.
At a national level the spirit of Christmas, of celebrating, comes from that sense of belonging, pride and trust in governance, gratification with welfare issues, implementation of policies as well as satisfaction with the running and performance of the economy which is measured by prudence in resource utilisation, wealth distribution as well as running and management of national assets and institutions. And the health of various sectors critical in the life of an economy is a critical reflection, which boasts this Christmas spirit. A lot has transpired in the past 12 months so far as institutional management is concerned. Precisely a lot has been happening, but in the year 2016 a lot of symptoms of the rot that has been happening in the system came to the fore. This is the year in which the nation’s premier academic institution came to its knees. It emerged that the crème del cream of higher learning is running on a shoestring budget and for several financial years, had been short-changed in government subventions; which administrators said is the snowball effect of seven years of under-funding.
Vice- chancellor, Professor Thabo Fako, whose management style has come under heavy scrutiny from UB academics, said if the situation is not hastily remedied, the University of Botswana would close doors next March.
“Beyond March 2017, the picture is bleak. The Ministry of Education should not be running on assumptions, but focus on what is required,” he said.
The massification of private tertiary institutions and government’s stance to tighten reduction sponsorship for certain programmes in favour of vocational education this year did the UB hard - a move most academics termed an ‘unofficial closure’ of the oldest learning facility.
All seems to be going wrong in this country. The health system has not been sparred. The importance of the health care system in the quality of life and socioeconomic efficiency cannot be overemphasised. While government has come up with noble life saving initiatives such as referring patients with certain conditions where expertise is limited in its facilities, the news that external partners are owned thousands of millions is heart wrecking.
Facilities like Bokamoso Private Hospital’s dialysis unit for instance are reported to be owed exorbitant sums. Overall, the cost of medical services borne from patients’ referrals to local and South African health facilities has shot through the roof to a point where the Ministry of Health and Wellness wants to explore alternative sources of health funding. With a sick health care system, there is little to be merry about. The spirit of Christmas is love and care; our hearts should go out to these patients who cannot (or whose procedures have been interrupted) be given specialised services due to the unfolding financial challenges.
However, the spirit of Christmas is not entirely amiss though, for a few individuals like those who benefited from things like ESP and their pockets are well lined and bank accounts fat; so the pulse of Christmas is throbbing.