Let's differ but in defference

| Friday March 12, 2010 00:00

'You can criticise the government, you have free speech, free elections,' said another. Botswana is indeed an incredible country. Home to not only the most beautiful wildlife we've seen yet, including elephants, giraffes, impala, kudu, and warthogs, but also to the friendliest people. It is one of the most vibrant political democracies we've seen so far, a nation proud of its peace and stability'.

The upbeat and affirmative foreword, prologue and overture captioned above is a true reflection of the selflessness of Batswana as reflected in their principle of 'botho'.  It is also for 'botho' that Botswana is widely regarded as an exceptional African Success Story.  As evidenced by economic and governance indicators, Botswana ranks amongst the highest in Africa in regard to political stability, control of corruption, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, or rule of law (for example Commonwealth Business Council, 2009; World Bank Institute (WBI); Bertelsmann Foundation, 2008).

According to UBotho, UB's School of Graduate Studies' Web Site, 'The Botswana people use the term botho to describe a person who has a well-rounded character, who is well-mannered, courteous and disciplined, and realises his or her full potential both as an individual and as a part of the community to which he or she belongs.

'Botho is an example of a social contract of mutual respect, responsibility and accountability that members of society have toward each other and defines a process for earning respect by first giving it, and to gain empowerment by empowering others'. We must therefore as a nation embrace the concept of Botho irrespective of our differences or the way we perceive the world around us, because it is a given that our interpretation of the world around us and events will be different. It is for the reasons outlined above of how we interpret the world around us, that we have a number of different Political Parties in Botswana. Of course all these political parties are driven by the desire to improve the conditions of the entire populous, the only difference being on how best to do it. It is again for this reason, that all Political Parties habour ambitions of running the government through their leaders who would in turn be President of the Republic of Botswana.

In short, all political Parties and their leaders' habour ambitions of becoming the President of the country. For now, Botswana's main opposition Parties, the Botswana Congress Party and the Botswana National Front, are having leadership contests, with contenders trying to woe members, promising that they could wrestle power from the BDP, and become the Head of State. By virtue, and despite the fact that the Head of State is a leader of a particular Political Party, at that level (as Head of State) the position is a quintessence, embodiment and personification of the Nation and should be given the respect it deserves.

It is against this backdrop that I take issue with comments by a certain Sonny O. Serite. My take with Sonny Serite has nothing to do with the fact that he disagrees with the President and Vice President on a number of issues.

As indicated earlier, the Office of President and Vice President are embodiments and personification of the nation, and like all other deserving members, they should be addressed with 'botho'. Unfortunately, Sonny Serite uses the most undiluted of vile and astringent diatribe by all means lacking in 'botho' against these high offices of national importance.

In an Article that appeared in a local Newspaper entitled 'Mompati Merafhe behaving like a 'Kwaito star', Sonny Serite writes as follows: 'There is this common belief that when people get very old, their level of thinking tends to deteriorate so much they start to behave like diapered infants. It is believed when age takes its toll, the brain starts to get lazy. In other words, the older you get the more childish you become. I have never bought into this perception but it would seem Vice President Merafhe wants to lend some credence to it.' Undoubtedly this goes beyond the decorum of free speech, and fails the 'botho' test by far. Firstly, Vice President Merafhe is old enough to be Sonny Serite's dad and secondly, the Office of Vice President deserves respect. The import of Sonny Serite's statement is that all our aged fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles you mention it, who are ageing and have aged 'behave like diapered infants'. Sonny Serite is out of order.

Sonny Serite's unruly character does not stop that far. He goes further: 'I'm sure all sane Mahalapye residents would be disappointed to learn their MP, who was the acting President at the time, and who is the eldest of all MPs, is scrambling for the limelight with younger MPs'. Vice President Mompati Merafhe is an MP, and many of the Mahalapye residents including myself are supportive of his performance in Parliament. By implication we are insane.

Why should one use such uncouth and foulmouthed language against the Vice President and Mahalapye residents who support him? It is when these things happen that one thinks of Tshelang Masisi's contribution to the Parliamentary debate as quoted in Mmegi Newspaper when in support of Kgosi Kgafela's floggings. He is reported as having noted that floggings were the traditional and shortest way of bringing order to unruly characters and that these are worthy of being emulated.

I am not suggesting nor do I believe that the President and Vice President suggest as well that people should not differ with them or offer counter proposals to the direction they would like to lead the country. Internally, every Political Party, if my memory serves me right, has set processes and procedures as to how they are to function as an Organisation, including of course Temba Joina's Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin Movement (MELS).

Processes and procedures are important because if you want to convince the nation that you can lead, as the saying goes, 'charity begins at home' you must be seen to effect your processes and procedures. This also extends to how Parliamentarians from any particular Party should act and portray themselves as members of a particular Party and abiding by the Party's processes and procedures.

Against this backdrop, both the BDP and Opposition Parties have seen the need to appoint Parliamentary Whips.The BDP's Chief Whip is Tshelang Masisi and the Opposition's Chief Whip is Dumelang Saleshando of the BCP. The term is derived from the 'whipper in' of English hunting parlance, whose role it is to keep the pack together in chasing its quarry. In the UK House of Commons, the whips' intentions are made clear by the weekly circulation of a document detailing important votes, one-line whip, two-line whip and three-line whip. The three lines whip indicates the strongest call for support.

The job of the ruling Party's whip is to ensure that the outcome of the vote is favourable to the Party, because if their members obey the whip, they can always win. Amongst the consequences for a back-bencher who defies the Party whip in UK could include lack of future promotion to a government post, a reduction of Party campaigning effort in his constituency during the next election, deselection by his or her local Party activists, or, in extreme circumstances, 'withdrawal of the whip' and expulsion from the Party. Theoretically, expulsion from the Party is automatic if one defies a three-line whip. All this is in the logic of organisational theory.

In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge that Sonny Serite is an enthusiastic writer. Writing is one area in which our curriculum must inculcate in our society and the same applies to reading. Vision 2016 calls for an educated and informed nation which will contribute to an overall objective to transform Botswana into a Knowledge Society with research and innovation the cornerstones of development. For Sonny Serite to make an indelible mark and contribute effectively towards being a role model for the young and upcoming, his writings must be exposed in a manner that bequeaths and promotes the spirit of 'botho'.

Ringtone NteletsaGaborone