In Setswana we do not talk of crocodile tears, rather we talk of “dikeledi tsa mathe”. I learnt at a very young age to distinguish between a leader with institutional power and an ordinary person. I learnt that there is no point in a Member of Parliament repeating my problems, when he has power to make a difference. It seems to me that a lot of our people are yet to distinguish between themselves and their leaders. Most leaders repeat their problems in parliament and they are happy. What is the point in this type of relationship?
Last week we were informed that citizen contractors were awarded projects of about P600 million whilst foreign owned entities were awarded projects valued at close to P8 billion. The responsible minister then went on to talk about citizens fronting for foreigners. Talk about the kettle and the pot. The numbers suggest that our government is effectively a front for foreign owned entities. A leadership that seeks reasons for excluding its own people has no right to claim to be patriotic.
I am not aware of a single member of parliament belonging to the ruling party who ever found it too intolerable to be a member of a political party that has consistently marginalized its people from the economy of this country. I am however aware of some who have resigned because of alleged dictatorship of the leader of the BDP. By any account these people are still living freely under the alleged dictator. It seems alleged dictatorship ranks higher than economic power of citizens in the scheme of things.
No member of parliament belonging to the ruling party has ever found it intolerable to be a member of a political party that has a government where citizens can wait for more than ten years to be allocated a piece of land for residential purposes. Again it seems alleged dictatorship is the only basis that has ever moved some member of parliament to resign from the ruling party. Lack of access to land, a tangible attribute that all can see, instead of an intangible attribute like dictatorship, where subjective emotions dominate, does not seem to be able to sway any member of parliament to resign from the ruling party.
No member of parliament has ever resigned from the ruling party on the basis that it was failing to create employment for our youth. Alleged dictatorship has however resulted in resignation. What this suggests is that overall, members of parliament who belong to the ruling party do not feel strongly enough about the minimum participation of citizens in the economy, lack of access to land, and youth unemployment to call it quits.
No member of parliament has ever resigned from the ruling party on the basis of something that nearly all Batswana are concerned about. If your representative can never feel strongly enough about something that is important to you, what reason do you have to continue to have faith in him or her? If the evidence on the ground is that your representative can only repeat your problems in parliament without using the enormous power and resources you have placed at his disposal to formulate solutions, what reason do you have to continue to believe that you have made the right decision as regards choice of representative?
Imagine a situation where your neigbour invites you to a party to celebrate the fact that you have never attacked him with a machete, and have never seduced his wife, when what you want is for him to stop making noise. I believe you would feel insulted because you have always understood and subscribed to the value that it is wrong to assault your neighbour or to seduce his wife. Batswana for some strange reason like to be told that the country is at peace because of the way the ruling party has governed. The ruling party never had any right to cause chaos in the first place. So why should you reward them for the peace that you have always had even before independence?
Rre Ntuane’s conduct and statements are a bonus to the opposition. Batswana were marginalized from the mainstream economy, unemployed, and not given land when he was a member of the BDP. They continued to be when he was in the opposition. They continue to be, even now, when he is a member of the BDP. This suggests that he is irrelevant as regards their condition. Recently he made remarks about foreigners owning land in Botswana whilst Batswana did not own land in foreign countries. He felt strongly about dictatorship to establish a political party but does not feel as strongly about issues that are very important to Batswana to establish an opposition political party.
For some strange reason a young influential radio personality, I believe he works for Duma fm, thought this was evidence of Rre Ntuane’s value. To me the young man misses the point. A leader should do more than articulate your problems, he must propose and fight for a solution. Rre Ntuane should go on sabbatical for this as he has done before, if he is really committed to the issue. Otherwise he is just a glorified messenger unable to be an instrument for change.
Rre Ntuane is a demonstration of how irrelevant members of parliament of the ruling party are to the situation of Batswana. The best he can do is repeat their pleas and helplessly stand by whilst their situation stays the same or gets worse. This suggests that Batswana have to make a conscious decision to act in a manner that ensures their issues are dealt with. The only way to do that is to put fear in the heart of the president. The only way to put fear in president’s heart is to make him know that Rre Ntuane and other BDP members of parliament are going to lose elections in 2014.
I believe that 2014 is going to bring up a lot of surprises. I have a distinct feeling that Batswana have now come to accept that the ruling party quite honestly does not have solutions to their economic problems. Its best proposal is “please wait for other countries to improve their economies” In the past when the opposition said “ give us government power and you will see what we can do” the BDP used to say that the opposition was like a boyfriend who asked a girl to get pregnant before marriage. How different is that from “ Keep us in government and we will provide for your needs when other countries get their houses in order and funds are available”
I have come to understand why Rre Khama travels over the breadth of this country. It is not about populism, it is a fight for survival. He has long figured out that the BDP is likely to get voted out in 2014. When commentators, including myself, thought that he was unlikely to lose elections in 2014 Rre Khama knew otherwise. We forgot that in terms of our electoral law Rre Khama could not succeed without a political party, but the BDP is a liability. Rre Khama was long aware that there are certain things that the BDP cannot sweep under the carpet. Youth unemployment, declining purchasing power of public servants and the working poor, lack of participation in the mainstream economy, and poor access to land, are issues that he and the BDP cannot possibly resolve before 2014, and it is bound to be very difficult to convince Batswana that given another term he and the BDP will come up with solutions. In the five years he and the BDP have been in power the lot of the ordinary Motswana has gotten worse.
We now have a section of our people which may have initially placed its hope on Rre Khama and voted BDP but which has now lost any hope in him. He has not with the enormous powers at his disposal made a difference to their lives. Instead he has spent too much time justifying why they are having miserable lives, contrary to their expectations. The idea that there have been fewer sales of diamonds to a people who have never seen a diamond in their lives is too difficult for most to accept. They were excluded when diamonds sales were high, now they are being told that they have to wait longer because diamond sales have come down.
A big man does not go around the country for no good reason. There must be something he is aware of, that puts fear into his heart for him to do so. Defeat at the polls is a personal issue. No son of Sir Seretse Khama, no matter how strong a believer in republican democracy, can lightly risk being the first leader of the BDP to lose at the polls. The trouble for Rre Khama is that there is no one who can deliver the vote. He has to rely on his own pull, but the law complicates matters.
