This one reported that North East District Councillors were infuriated by the failure of government departments to respond to Council motions. They said that only two percent of motions forwarded to Gaborone are ever answered and even those are unsatisfactory. The two percent must be a figure plucked from mid-air, but no matter, it gives us the general idea and it is certainly worth thinking about. There are currently a mix of perhaps 15 Councils, City, Township and District which all meet four times a year giving a total of 60 Council meetings held during the 12 month period. At each meeting there may be 15 motions of which five may be rejected and ten approved. Collectively District Councils may forward to central government, therefore, something like 600 motions every year. If the North East Council figure is even slightly accurate, it seems that government departments are able to respond to no more than twenty five or so of those motions which is, give or take, two answers per Council. But of course, this cannot possibly be true, you may say because, if it were, it would suggest that the workings of our democratic system are more seriously flawed than we had been led to believe. But the likelihood of it being true was supported by no less a figure than Mmegi's knowledgeable columnist Dan Moabi who recently suggested that a huge number of motions approved by the National Assembly have also been simply ignored by the government. In a way, this is not too surprising because so much time is now committed by government departments to attending PMS workshops, to interviewing 300 applicants for two cleaner posts, as is now the amazing norm, and perhaps, to answering consultants' questions as to why they fail to respond to Council and Parliamentary motions! What is a little surprising about this discouraging situation is the failure of both the Ministry of Local Government, in particular, and the various Councils to recognise that a fundamental element of the democratic system is simply not working; and to do something about it. What is the point of hammering away at a door which can never be opened? So change tactics to avoid further frustration, and agree that the only option now is to ask local MPs to present, as questions, to the relevant Minister, the most urgent of Council motions. At the moment, Ministers are still obligated to answer. When that democratic mechanism also becomes over loaded and seizes up, it may be time to carry out an urgent review of the entire system.
Change of topic, firstly the on going spat about the Category C tourism licence, expatriates engaged in the tourism business and foreign involvement and investment. Past experience has suggested to me that it's wise to regard with care, even scepticism, first explanations about the rights and wrongs involved in suddenly erupting controversies - Camphill and Otse being the latest in that long, sad line. So I much admired the attempt by Dan Moabi to explain that there is another side to the story. Let's see how it all works out. Secondly, there was another regular Mmegi columnist, Patrick van Rensburg, who also wrote to question the slant that had been placed on a totally different news story, that of Roy Sesana petitioning Prime Minister Blair at 10 Downing Street. Jeff Ramsay at the Office of the President does an amazing job in regularly producing his Tau Tona Times but its value lies in the factual information he provides. Opinion and mockery should be left to others.
