Many years from now when we look back, we will come to a conclusion that our lowest point in economic terms was not when the world economy collapsed and people in the West stopped buying our diamonds.
Rather, it will be that point in time when Botswana Power Corporation failed to build a power station after being given money to do just that.
The damage that BPC has inflicted on Botswana’s economy is not only unpardonable but also irreparable.
As we speak, many small businesses have gone belly-up, and BPC does not seem to give a hoot!
The tragedy of it all is that months into this era of darkness, there is still no clear answer as to what really happened, much less who has been accountable.
The minister responsible for energy, the ever smiling Kitso Mokaila, has in the recent past muttered something that he wanted to pass as an explanation of this tragedy.
He made promises, set new deadlines and even committed new resources, not to the actual construction and completion of a power station but instead to a prestigious international law firm.
As all that he often mutters, Mokaila’s public explanation came out more as a bad joke and less as a source of information.
The upshot of it is that we are still in the dark, not just because there is still no electricity but also because notwithstanding the minister’s public verbiage, we have been left none the wiser on when the power station will, after all the madness, become operational.
This is indeed a tragedy of our times.
We may be angry with Mokaila but the truth of the matter is that he is a scapegoat, in all the shades of meanings the word may entail.
He arrived on stage to see the tragicomedy already on play.
The true architect of the tragedy had long left the scene ÔÇô on promotion, a great reward for a job badly done.
He is now the second most powerful man on the land.
While we wail in the dark at how BPC has failed to deliver a power station, the biggest crime should be how BPC moved mountains to hide away the impending disaster.
The nation was never warned of the looming darkness.
We were only told of it when it was already upon us, leaving us with neither the opportunity to run away nor time to seek alternative sources.
It is all proper for us to be angry at our political leaders for their ham-fisted handling of the power plant, but the people who really should be fired are executives at Botswana Power Corporation.
I still do not know how it is that that we have not heard that a Chief Executive at BPC has lost their job, together with the chairman of the board. It’s unlikely this will continue.
If the new deadlines set by Mokaila are also not met, as it all looks increasingly likely, then the minister will have no choice but to look for sacrificial lambs.
There is a stubborn body of opinion crying out that it’s high time somebody fell on their sword.
At the moment the public sympathy for BPC is at its thinnest.
Because a growing number of Batswana are now calling for action, as a price for the multiple small businesses that have since collapsed on account of power shortages, the minister may want to get stiff, stop smiling and spill some blood.
Not a single tear will be shed for BPC top brass.
They have mismanaged the power plant and went on to mismanage the crisis stemming from therein.
The next time he stands up to the podium, the minister should, as part of his brief, tell the nation who among his people has been sacked.
That is the least the public wants.
If that does not happen it will not be long before the nation clamours for the ultimate trophy, which is the resignation of the entire government.
This because, as a matter of fact, what BPC has put us through is a resigning matter for governments in countries where democracy has a portent meaning.
