If we’re honest with ourselves, the rot that is corruption, trading in influence, malpractice, other forms of criminality, general dishonesty and moral decay that we’re currently witnessing set in long before the Khama administration. We’re more critical now though because times are tough all over, and it’s become harder to watch the on-going malfeasance when so many of us are battling to meet our monthly financial commitments and in many cases even meet our basic needs. Most recently, there’s been a plethora of recent media reports that would seem to indicate that there are those among us who are above the law and untouchable, no matter what regulations, decrees, acts, edicts not to mention principles, codes of ethics and/or morality that they don’t just cross; but instead absolutely obliterate.
Public figures who’ve been placed in positions of power so absolute that many believe that even the most prominent of citizens fear this personage; who was placed and charged with keeping us safe from the terrors that lurk in the dark, but instead through and via appointed office has amassed an unseemly amount of wealth ÔÇô much of which (if we’re that gullible) ÔÇô this individual would have the anti-graft busting agency and all others believe were gifts bestowed upon him by close friends, father-figures as well as powerful and prosperous corporate heads. In truth, there is no smoke without fire ÔÇô and there’s smoke in abundance here ÔÇô and there is, if not overwhelming evidence, then at the very least clear indications of shady dealings, unlawful and unethical profiteering as well as the mal-administration and mis-use of state funds.
From the public point of view, we hold such individuals in contempt for a number of reasons; for flaunting unlawfully and immorally obtained wealth, for their absolute disregard of this country’s development imperatives, for taking essential funds out of government coffers that are required for the anti-retrovirals, other medicines, medical facilities and expertize that serve the majority of this country’s populace, for robbing this nation’s treasury of the monies required to educate and improve the lot of the next generation, for stealing from this country’s reserves and thereby depriving fellow countrymen and women of the poverty alleviating programmes and initiatives that cannot be sustained due to a dearth in funding, for larceny of Botswana’s assets, that see us through periods of prolonged and recurrent drought and global financial meltdowns, for fleecing the state of the resources required to build necessary and vital infrastructure, for draining this lands finances and thereby allowing and permitting the poorest of us to go without the indispensable food-baskets, government rations and other forms of state assistance that allow for basic survival and nothing more.
Public perception is that the showy manner in which such individuals parade their ill-gotten gains is not only an affront to common decency, but is even more egregious in that they appear to be daring us all to confront them directly. And if perception is, “the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted” then in this instance the hue and outcry on radio, the private press and social media cannot simply be ignored and labeled as opposition party deceits, mendacities by the media and/or defamations and denigrations by the un-patriotic. Many now discern that the current goings-on bode ill for the future of this entire nation and there is a growing awareness of the fact that corruption is far from being a victimless crime. Further, that the deafening silence by elected representation and their reticence, apathy and inertia with regard to what is happening in one of the most powerful organs of the state has reached intolerable limits. And finally that the doubtful and suspicious activities by senior public servants that are being allowed to continue without seizure or censure are a direct breach of the public trust that can only be comprehended if they too are somehow accomplices after the fact, co-conspirators, complicit themselves, compromised (either personally, professionally, through friends, family and via association) and thus fearful of exposure.
There is a direct correlation between perception and behavior ÔÇô people act based upon their perceptions; it is one of the most important aspects of human behavior as it provides more than dispassionate, disinterested and/or neutral output, it imbues observation with meaning. Deciphered and/or explained via the prism of previous experiences. Nowhere is this more-true than in politics and governance. We have all seen corruption/perceived corruption impede democracy and the rule of law; it arises when there are surmounting deficits with regard to the transparency of political decision making, ensued by public institutions and offices losing legitimacy when they misuse their power for private gain which is then closely followed by political activity based on patronage, clientelism and money. Perceived and unfettered corruption discourages people from working together for the greater good because it engenders frustration and general apathy in and amongst the public, the outcome of which is a severely weakened civil society. Demanding and paying bribes can then become a tradition. Bid-rigging, embezzlement, coercion, extortion and electoral fraud may become the norm. The repercussions of which are, amongst others, social inequality and a widened gap between the rich and the poor. Does any of this sound familiar under the current government?
Africa is littered with examples of such regimes and failed states; those in which corruption has undermined the legitimacy of government, weakened their structures, reduced productivity, hindered development, worsened poverty, marginalized the poor and ultimately created social unrest. It’s no longer tenable for government, present or future, to circumvent and evade allegations of corruption, but to be seen as and actually tackling the issue without fear and without favor. To ignore the issue is to disregard public perception and sentiment, “that enough is enough”, that corrupt public officials be called to account with immediate effect. The political party that pays no heed to public perception, in particular with regard to the current and escalating levels of corruption, is the party that may well find itself on the losing end of general election come October. Because they’ll have given us no alternative, but to vote for the opposition.
