It is, of course, natural that, having been so seriously hurt in the recent election, it will feel under extra pressure to pull off a master stroke of some kind in order to give everyone that feel good factor which, right now, is so conspicuously absent. But whilst we are all recovering from the collapse of the multi-million Pula Delta Dairies project, we are told by Mmegi (28 April) that the government is going for broke by investing P100 in a major new dairy project in Lobatse.
By now, of course, it should have learnt from bitter experience that it is better to start small and to learn from practical experience the kinds of problems that may have been only poorly understood by bureaucrats sitting in air conditioned, offices. Optimistically throwing huge amounts of money at this or that project without the necessary understanding has turned out in so many cases, to create more problems than they solve. Up and down, the country is a veritable graveyard of failed projects. The most obvious of these projects has been those involving chicken production – the abandoned remains being found almost everywhere. The dairy industry too has its own long history characterised by early success and later failure beginning with the establishment of the 1909 Dairy Cooperative in Lobatse. Other initiatives have left behind evidence of past efforts. The most obvious are the modest road side milk collection points which were constructed in the 1930s as a result of Col. Rey’s remarkable and for a time successful push to get the dairy industry moving.
