Christians, like workers, do not forget Christmas, for each of their own persuasive reasons. The true Christian celebrates Christ's birth on Christmas Day, and they praise God for bringing him to serve humanity on earth. In the so-called Christian world, the workers observe Christmas most likely because it gives them time off work, and - for those who still have them - an opportunity to visit their traditional ploughing fields and meraka.Some expect the increasingly rare end-of-year bonus. Garbage collectors - Gaborone excluded - and workers in the hospitality and/or newspaper businesses, look forward to 'double pay' for working on an official holiday. But for some strange reason, neither the Christians nor the workers, especially the trade unions, remember the most important day in the life of the country's economy. By last Tuesday, the only certainty about the celebration of May Day was that the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Peter Siele, was scheduled to speak at the main event in Francistown where, coincidentally or deliberately, President Ian Khama was diarised to quell the mutiny inside the Botswana Democratic Party. It is not certain which of the two events will be the most memorable for the Christians and the Workers, but both should have provided some quality entertainment by the time this edition of The Monitor hits the street. Isn't it astonishing that the trade union leaders are ever so committed to the annual ritual where they have government ministers officiating at what is the single day on which the workers celebrate their place at the workplace? The reasoning is that the ministers will respond to workers' issues of the day. By what guarantee?
Who shall have asked the questions? When? Is it not more likely that the ministers will exploit the celebration as just the ideal opportunity to have the workers arrange a political rally for them? Could this be a ploy by the lazy collective leadership of the trade unions to account to the workers, to listen to them, and to celebrate their painfully gained successes? Because the ministers have all year to speak to the workers, let workers' day be workers' day. For Christ's sake
