In the essay titled ‘Botswana Day has lost meaning, however it is not too late to redeem it’, the Badge of Courage concluded that to restore the relevance and significance of Botswana Day and make the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations meaningful and historic, the revelries should be anchored on our unique value system in order to redefine ourselves according to our own terms and sincerely celebrate that which we venerate.
It was also remarked that the day should be celebrated with relevant and meaningful activities that resonate with feelings of national pride. The discussion emphasised that anything short of this approach would be a loud affirmation that indeed Botswana has been sold out to humbugs and traitors.
So far recent major events that served as a build-up to the mother of all parties point to the latter ÔÇô that Botswana has been mortgaged to Judas.
The core argument is that planned thoughtfully and purposefully, the 50th Independence anniversary celebrations could potentially usher in unprecedented social and cultural investment and sustainable programmes that would continue to shape the Botswana nation many for years to come. Relevant activities would have seen the creation of such needed infrastructure as cultural centres and the revival of our pristine heritage sites that would boost our promising tourism sector and invariably boost economic growth.
In a most recent essay also on the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations, titled ‘Making sense of the anti-50th Independence Anniversary celebrations sentiments’ the Badge of Courage pointed out that public reaction to BOT50 is succinctly captured by two dichotomous factional politics with one faction in favour of and the other against the celebrations.
This is perfectly normal and served to remind us that in a society that is characterised by sharp differences based on social classes, our perspectives on many issues are bound to differ according to one’s political orientation as influenced by the class system. However, criticism and skepticism coming from the other camp was necessary to motivate the coordinators of the anniversary celebrations to introspect and change the way they do things as and when necessary in order to do the right things and do them right.
Thus, in spite of the absence of relevant activities that resonate with our societal values and in spite of the decision by skeptics to renounce the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations, the party has long begun and is bound to get wild with every passing day. The government has set aside huge sums of money to create the hype and excitement among Batswana and many have already fallen into a holiday stupor that is threatening to qualify September for the dubious award of being the most wasted month in a half century of the country’s independence.
Over the years it has been stated with monotonous regularity that Botswana was not competing favourably with her African counterparts as far as labour productivity is concerned. These low productivity levels have been cited as one of the factors Botswana has been failing to attract investors. It has been revealed that poor work ethics in national labour force was a huge challenge and in direct response to this problematic issue, the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) launched the Work Ethic Project specifically aimed at changing the mind-set of Batswana in order to improve productivity and positive results were forthcoming.
Unfortunately, during the month of September in 2016, efforts aimed at enhancing productivity will come to naught because the government has implored Batswana to celebrate individually and collectively. By so doing, the government is in actual fact sponsoring and promoting negative work habits such as loafing, reporting late to work and leaving office well before time to join mates and make merry. This means that the month of September 2016 is characterised by shorter working hours and lethargy due to wild celebrations. More worryingly, even those who spend their working hours at the workplace mainly idle about with limited interest in executing their official assignments.
Many times it is taken for granted that senior employees are adequately disciplined and would at all times have the right attitude and be efficient. Often senior officers are advised to indulge while ensuring that they work the hours necessary to carry out their duties in full. To any such senior who lack discipline, this provision gives them space to do as they please and become problem officers. Recognising this reality, many organisations actively promote positive work ethics amongst their employees across rank.
While the Public Service Charter’s eight principles outlines the required work ethics within the public service, in reality and with specific reference to the month of September 2016, government actively promotes the opposite by encouraging Batswana in general and workers in particular to go wild and party.
The after-effects of this state-sponsored partying on productivity levels are bound to be devastating for many months to come. In Botswana where the government is the lead player in national development (as a producer and employer), any tolerance for indifference and loafing of civil servants in the pretext of honouring Botswana Day would certainly have ripple effects throughout all sectors of the economy. State sponsored initiatives provide a platform for change, be it good or bad. Basically, the Botswana state is the trendsetter in many spheres of life.
State sponsored nation-wide celebrations unintentionally ‘direct’ employers to let loose their workers and for once permit them to play truant and have an afternoon of fun with friends. Many employees with inherent dislike for work are interpreting this appeal by the government for Batswana to celebrate as a directive that entitles them to be given time off in order to indulge in the enjoyable recollection of Botswana’s history. This signals widespread change in behaviour ranging from late coming at work, laziness, procrastination, idleness, alcoholism, drugging and so forth that tends to lead to decline in the productivity of citizens in all types of jobs. Important decisions and meetings are postponed to some other time after the anniversary celebrations because everyone is busy with final preparations. This is bound to result in huge economic losses for a country already reeling from the effects of poor work ethics.
Related to the issue of low levels of productivity, it is submitted that many people are likely to get carried away by excitement and in the process slip to debts resulting from unplanned expenses. Excitement often leads to a caf├® culture and consumerism and it is common knowledge that like their country, many Batswana are broke which means that they will have go for credit in order to satisfy their appetite for shopping and honour their country. The effects of personal financial debt on productivity are often severe as financial indebtedness leads to high levels of stress making workers to worry and focus more on their personal problems.
Thus, whichever way we look at the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations, the costs seem to outweigh the benefits both in the short and long term. Essentially, state sponsored celebrations are most likely to cause harm to the national economy through hours of lost productivity and wasted resources. The days, weeks, months and probably years following the celebrations will see sick leave, unauthorised absenteeism and inefficiency shoot to disproportionate levels. In the short term, even those who will report back to work on time may operate at reduced capacity as they struggle to recover from long term effects of state sponsored binge drinking, drugging and related energy-draining fun-filled activities.
In the end it is not so much that there is nothing to celebrate than doing it irresponsibly, within our means and most importantly, remaining alive to the hard fact that 30th September 2016 is not end of the world.
