MELS's State of the Nation

THEMBA JOINA H | Friday November 9, 2007 00:00

The speech lacks vision and the ability to guide the nation to greater heights. The BDP has reached a ceiling it has no potential to reform. It is time people realize this.

*Matters arising in the speech
While the President applauds the separation of powers, parliament and the judiciary still have more problems caused by the Executive. Judges are appointed and dismissed by the President. Some judges shuttle between the Attorney General's and the bench.

Parliament has no power to employ its staff and have no resources at its disposal to enhance its independence. Some BDP MPs were reprimanded and rebuked in public by the same President Festus Mogae for exerting. At the High Court some judges were dismissed for questioning the mal-administration and lack of independence of judges. Worse still some judges threatened to sue the government and an appeasement strategy was put in place. Some parliamentarians expressed disapproval.

A majority of Batswana are underpaid P300, P450 and P750, for fees alone is a lot of money. Children also pay for books that go missing or are misplaced. The economy of this country can manage to provide a free compulsory and universal education, as advocated by the Melsians.

The speech has no concrete proposal or guide, on how unemployment and poverty can be eradicated. There is no commitment at all except that intention to privatize parastatals is seen to be a long-term project to create employment.

This to me, is lack of understanding the basics of political economy. The President is not worried that our economy is controlled from outside, Batswana are spectators in the economy. What he calls a success story, does not have Batswana in the center. Worse still there is no concrete programme.

The youth, women and trade unions have no future in BDP. Youth are encouraged to create their own jobs but no strategy is bearing fruits at the moment. Sloganeering has become the order of the day. Nationalisation of the main aspects of the economy, will create hope for the youth, as government will be involved in the creation of goods and services.

MELS policies are outstanding in this aspect. A thorough reading of the President's speech will clearly indicate that the BDP view with contempt all trade union leaders who do not subscribe to it. They demand complete allegiance to the government. There is no programme in place in relation to the improvement of working conditions, safety and security of employees, periodical salary adjustments. All the speech contains is a threat coated in 'sweet words'.

While the BDP pay lip service to women empowerment there is no strategy to empower women, except to nominate those that owe allegiance to the President 'the President's men and women; surely this is not acceptable. The BDP government should adopt political systems like proportional representation that will empower women, not to glorify an individual for appointing women. Women must owe power to themselves, enlightened women cannot be appeased by these lame tactics.

Issues deliberately ignored
Obviously the President deliberately ignored the need to discuss election reforms that could go a long way to politically empower women, youth and all political parties. These reforms may ensure that civil society has an input on how government policies are crafted.

One would have expected the President to apologise for destroying people's houses at Mogoditshane and other places. After destroying people's houses, the same land was re-allocated as residential.

The Auditor General's reports indicate huge sums of money unaccounted for due to mismanagement. The President has also committed a lot of errors in office, at times using unacceptable language to the people and at one point declaring a state of emergency to correct his errors. This is abuse of power and office, he ought to have apologized.

During his term in office the President did not consult with opposition parties on issues of national interest, and above all failed dismally to continuously consult people by holding kgotla meetings.

For his retirement, the President has set a bad precedent by building himself a lavish house worth more than P20 million. This is unacceptable in a developing country like Botswana. He ought to have explained how this is possible in the face of unemployment, poverty and underpayment. The President ought to link this also to Ministers, MPs and Councilors, who do not have a single package. The best he could do was to apologise to the nation, to show respect, rather than pretend that all is well. A majority of our people go for days without even P100 to talk of. If he is not aware then he is not of this world.

One would have expected the President to announce a protracted programme on agricultural reforms and a clear strategy on the manufacturing industry, clearly there is no commitment to diversify this economy.