This junket is ill-advised

| Thursday September 22, 2011 00:00

Through debates, councillors in their meetings make decisions for the development of their municipalities.

Probably because of financial constraints and other logistical challenges, council meetings are not held throughout the year.  They are seasonal and take about two weeks or so.  Often-times councillors have complained and successfully pushed for longer sessions of their meetings so that they can address issues prudently without rushing through to meet deadlines.

So, for councillors in Kweneng District to cancel a scheduled full council meeting because there is no business is shocking indeed.  They have embarked on a P400,000 safari to world famous tourist destinations like Victoria Falls, Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park.  The bill is being footed by the taxpayer.  Kweneng District Council (KDC) chairman, Motlhopi Leo, says the junket is necessary to allow councillors to benchmark on tourism, mining and agricultural operations.  Fine.  This is important and the representatives should go and benchmark with those who have excelled in these economic activities.  But the question is, was it necessary for all the 82 councillors to embark on this benchmarking safari?  Normally you would expect the council to send say, 10 councillors, and not the whole lot!  There is no justification for this behaviour.  No wonder some of them boycotted the trip. Unfortunately, they find themselves in a situation where they are idling around when they should have been in a council meeting.  A majority of councillors together with Leo were so eager to leave for the sojourn that they had no qualms cancelling a full council meeting.

This clearly shows lack of responsibility and good leadership.  It shows selfish behaviour by civic leaders who were elected to serve the people.  Instead they are busy scrambling for a safari that others say is a pursuit of personal gratification.

While their leaders are wining and dining in the natural beauties of the Victoria Falls and the alluring Okavango Delta, claiming there are no issues to discuss in a council meeting, the Kweneng District residents are still grappling with water shortages and poor roads.

Meanwhile, in Gaborone the council meeting has been adjourned for two weeks because the time is not right nor ripe for a coup against the mayor Veronica Lesole.  The mayor's detractors are so keen to kick her out that they are willing to adjourn the council meeting if they cannot achieve their aim. So in Molepolole, councillors are going on a safari because they do not have business to transact.  In Gaborone, they cannot transact business because they want the mayor out, hence they give themselves two weeks off.  Talk of having your cake and eating it.

                       Today's thought

            'Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.'

                       - Winston Churchill