Assigned to lead the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) campaign in Tati West, Dr Phillip Bulawa is vying to wrestle the constituency from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Among those who migrated from the Botswana National Front (BNF) in 1998 to form the BCP, Bulawa maintains that his political mission is not to try his luck. Rather it is “to go out there to contest and win”.
He oozes a level of confidence primed by the progress so far made since the beginning of his campaign. In a wide-ranging interview, he minces no words in claiming to be better placed┬áto represent the constituency. This confidence is also on account of his party’s┬áclear policies on issues regarding human development.
Bulawa is clear in his assertion that BDP MPs in the area have failed the constituency because of their party’s top-down and centralized policies, which he refers to as “irrelevant”.
Central to Bulawa’s campaign is what he terms as despicable working conditions of employees in the country. If elected to parliament,┬áhe vows to take government head on with regard to the workers’ plight. For example, he decries what he says is the neglect of teachers by the BDP. He says as parliamentarian, he would confront their plight irrespective of whichever party is governing.
Bulawa insists that Tati West, and by extension the North East District, is lagging in terms of development in comparison to the country’s other districts. “For instance, the fact that Masunga has been designated a major administration centre in Botswana should be reflected by the volume of development, but the situation at the moment is that as a district, you can’t really distinguish it from a sub-district,” he says.
“As a district, it is entitled to a tertiary institution so that students no longer have to travel long distances to places such as Francistown, Gaborone and so on. The constituency needs a tertiary institution operating at a higher level than the brigades.”
Another thorny issue topping Bulawa’s campaign agenda is the omission in the Constitution┬áof Dikgosi of various villages in the constituency as paramount chiefs eligible for recognition at Ntlo ya Dikgosi. “All the chiefs like Masunga, Habangana, Ramokate, Moroka and others are paramount chiefs in their own right and territorial jurisdiction, just like for instance, Kgosi Gaborone of┬áTlokweng and Kgosi Seboko of Balete,” insists Bulawa.
He says the constitutional amendments of sections 77, 78 and 79 have failed to address the imbalances occasioned to people of the Tati West constituency.
Yet another issue that irks Bulawa is lack of recognition of the so-called minority languages which, in his view, face extinction if measures are not immediately put in place to preserve them. Such measures would include having them taught in schools.
“This is obviously not only peculiar to Tati East and West but other areas such as Ngamiland, Kgalagadi and Chobe. There is no reason why after almost 50 years of independence, the so-called minority languages, as the BDP would love to call them, are still not being taught in schools at all levels of our education system or being aired on radio and television. BDP representatives in Tati West have always been very aware of these anomalies, but were scared to death to dare challenge the status quo.”
Bulawa dismisses fears that if such languages were taught in schools they would pose the danger of inciting a civil war in Botswana or fuel issues of tribalism.
He accused the BDP representatives in the Tati West constituency of being constrained by the top-down centralized policy on languages adding that he found it shameful that while some local indigenous languages were denied recognition, some foreign languages like French and Chinese had been accorded such recognition of being taught in our local education institutions.
On how he would want the thorny issues tackled, Bulawa said the language issue has been debated at different fora but unfortunately government’s attitude has been unyielding in changing the status quo. He said the same attitude was displayed in the issue of the re-designation of chiefs’ representation in Ntlo ya Dikgosi.
“Some concerned citizens have even approached the UN on this sensitive issue but government refused to budge ÔÇô so as a party we are doing everything possible to make all Batswana aware that teaching these languages or airing them on radio or television will only enhance our cultures as Batswana. When people’s fears have been allayed regarding the imagined danger of giving respect to these languages, government will be under pressure to change its┬ámindset.”
He weighs in on the question of proper management of resources like the justification of spending so much money in the establishment of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS). This, he said, was at the expense of enhancing intelligence services within the Botswana Police Service and the Botswana Defence Force. Arguing that structures in the latter security organs already existed, it made no economic sense to create a new security organ at such huge cost.
With proper management of resources, Bulawa believes the focus should shift towards improving public service delivery essentials by raising civil service motivation levels. He added that given the country’s current level of development, emphasis should shift to the development of the agricultural sector which provides the backbone of the rural communities.
Another trump card in Bulawa’s campaign strategy is the issue of citizen economic empowerment which he argues has been relegated to the periphery for far too long by the ruling BDP which he accused of favouring foreign construction companies at the expense of Batswana who were trained to levels beyond first degree at huge cost to the tax payer.
“Why go all the way to China to get a brick layer or carpenter when we have our own? All we need to do is help our own people to gain the experience required to perfect their work. The BCP government will with immediate effect declare construction industry protected by law in favour of locals,” said Bulawa, adding that it was a disgrace that the poultry industry is currently in the hands of┬átwo people.
“I will raise some of these issues once┬áin parliament without mincing words. Citizen economic empowerment is too important a subject to be relegated to the periphery as it is currently the case with the BDP. Parliament needs ideas and with my experience in the public service as a teacher, working at the country’s institution of higher learning and my involvement in NGOs especially on environmental issues, I should be able to debate issues and offer practical ideas.”
Having lived all his life in Tati West with a keen understanding of the constituency’s issues, Bulawa is confident of his ability to eloquently articulate these issues. He was quick to pin point the many issues┬áaffecting┬áTati West constituency. These range from high rates of youth unemployment to the current crisis in the education system.
The BCP parliamentary hopeful also bemoaned how Tati West has been neglected by the BDP government for far too long as evidenced by the collapse of the agricultural industry covering the whole North East District.
“For many years the people of Tati West were well known for farming, producing more groundnuts, millet and other crops in comparison to some parts of the country. It is obvious that we need to find out how best we can support the people to do what they know best ÔÇô crop production. It is imperative that as a country we should resort to irrigation to enhance arable farming in Tati West and elsewhere. Besides agriculture, people in this constituency have other skills, and this potential would thrive if they are given support. A good example is the furniture producing Bazezuru community of Moroka. Why not provide them the necessary support to improve the quality of their furniture and sell to furniture retail outlets in the country? Governments are not just there to tax people but should support and protect their business people against the importation of commodities already produced locally.”
On the topical issue of the appointment of judges, he suggested that members of the Judicial Service Commission should not be appointed by the president but should instead be appointed by a parliamentary select committee. This would give it autonomy and due independence especially that parliament represents the views of the public who elected them while the president is more representative of his party. He said such a select committee should be accountable to parliament and not the president.
His views on political party funding is that it is a must as well as a global norm that enhances the principle of democracy. “Obviously, it is us in the opposition who get no funding while the sole abuse of public resources by the ruling party is party funding in disguise. While those of us in the opposition don’t have resources to reach out to the people and market ourselves, obviously you cannot say the same about the BDP. It is also the BDP that is mainly getting support from the business community ÔÇô the obvious reason is that many of them do it for survival,” said Bulawa.
He urged Batswana to vote out the BDP because Botswana was caught up in the latest global recession because the ruling party had failed to utilize the country’s abundant natural resources to uplift the people’s standard of living.
Armed with a doctoral degree in educational management, Bulawa who hails from Sekakangwe village in the North East District concluded that Tati West needed an honest, bold and fearless MP who will strongly articulate their rights and aspirations and he is “the only one” as BDP legislators are obligated by their party caucus to tow party to the detriment of their personal convictions.
