The seed saga is symptomatic

| Sunday May 5, 2013 00:00

What is troubling, however, are reports that some of the seeds planted in approximately 150 hectares are not germinating as expected.  This comes at a time when the country is reeling from last year's devastating drought that cut the national yield immeasurably, especially staple cereals like sorghum and maize.  The result was that instead of moving towards self-sufficiency in food production, Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) was compelled to look abroad to meet the massive deficit, pushing the food import bill back up.

In a terrible year for both man and beast, the drought not only reduced our harvest, but it also had a telling effect on the national cattle herd that suffered a high rate of attrition.The sordid affair of sterile seeds means the government has - once again - fallen prey to confidence tricksters masquerading as bona fide entrepreneurs. And as often happens in such seedy episodes (pun intended), it also means another heavy financial outlay to obtain what will hopefully be genuine articles that will germinate.  It also means, and we dread to say it, that the possibility exists of someone lodged strategically inside government who is a part of the intrigue.  Sadly, the utterances attributed to the Ministry of Agriculture sound disturbingly like those of pathetic losers who are used to being robbed.  Farmers are being advised not buy seed from the sordid company, meaning it is business as usual for the enterprising scoundrels who can easily come in the guise of a different entity and perpetrate another scandal.

We are disappointed by this acquiescence in the massive fraud on the part of government because so much has been made of the abilities of its law enforcement agencies, especially the pampered DIS. To ask where they are when crooks rob the very government that feeds fat their egos is apt and legitimate because DIS agents are known to tap into telephone conversations of all and sundry.  Yet the operations of unscrupulous businessmen across all sectors of the economy - mining, tourism, construction, health, education, food distribution, and the service sector - does not abate.

The nation is currently stuck with unfinished projects, students fail for lack of textbooks, patients debilitate and die for lack of drugs while the lucrative chain of referrals to South Africa does not stop because it is lucrative, expatriates fly while expensively trained Batswana pilots lose their hours and hope as apartheid networks rape the country, young women are raped and detectives laugh at them, the list of corrupt ministers grows while the President turns convicted murderers loose, and now farmers are sold sterile duds for seeds.  Wait a minute, is this still a country or what?  If it is, who's in control?Botswana, a country that once prided itself on the rule of law, is beginning to look more and more like the stuff of Hollywood movies. The chaos must stop!

                                                                     Today's thought

                                                     'Bad seed is a robbery of the worst kind...'

                                                               - George Washington