Over the weekend I took time to read local and international newspapers. Yes, as an old fashioned type I still prefer papers over electronic platforms. A disturbing pattern emerged from local and global stories. We are a world in a mess! In Europe, our former colonial masters have placed themselves between this world and the next. Certainly, they sit precariously hanging loosely more closely to the next world. To say the British are dead is an understatement. The same can be said about their grandkids across the pacific. Americans are now dealing with Trump. The less said about him the better. Effectively, the picture emerging from the newsroom across the globe is much more of gloom and despair. And the same applies here. Perhaps the sign of times.
In this instalment, I reflect on the current state of affairs in our semi-arid country in light of the global mood of despair. I want to argue that, as has happened the world over, we are in trouble at all levels of our existence largely because of the failing leadership in charge of our republic(s). The leaders, frankly speaking, are not responsive enough to our concerns. Rather, what we have is a self-serving few privileged individuals living in their small imaginary world, significantly out of touch with reality. Effectively, they have lost touch with the masses. Consequently, the leaders are missing the growing anger that is surely consuming their societies. They are oblivious of the squalor that defines the living reality of many of their people. They seem, collectively, not to care. And given the plethora of challenges faced by the world, it would seem this was the time to have a committed and responsive leadership to address emerging challenges both at global and local levels. I was wrong.
Back to our context. I did pen an article in this column suggesting that as a nation we have reached rock bottom entitled “are we becoming a mafia state?” In the same article I noted, once again, that corruption was institutionalising in our country, and the scary thing was that little was being done by those in charge of our republic to effectively respond to the emerging scourge. On the basis of what was reported on print and electronic media, corruption levels and those involved was transforming from bad to worse. In terms of scale it was too obvious that we were facing a cliff as far as graft was concerned. Also it was the players involved, comprising mainly of individuals holding high positions in our society, which made the situation scary. Given this situation, I concluded that we were, undoubtedly, becoming what Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, characterised as a “thug state” in reference to acts of corruption consuming his native nation, Nigeria, where the political leadership were in cahoots with criminals to loot Africa’s economic powerhouse. But that reality was not an isolated development. It had reached our shores sooner than expected.
In my weekend readings of newspapers my attention was caught by an article penned by Honourable Dithapelo Keorapetse (Mmegi, Friday 24th, 2016). In it he demonstrated the extent of corruption this country faced, particularly in the education sector. In here we have what he saw as bogus education providers, especially at tertiary level, which surged since the beginning of the 2000s. During this time government wanted the private sector to be the engine of growth for this diamond-led economy. Nothing bad, I will say. Sadly, in an absence of sound regulatory framework what was embarked as a progressive move proved somewhat of a challenge, first, leading to a proliferation of private institutions some purporting to be universities, offering course ranging from anything to everything. The same institutions were accredited even without demonstrating capacity and capability in offering such courses, ranging from lack of basic facilities such as libraries and qualified staff. Second, privatising education was undertaken in an awkward manner. For many of us who choses private education for our kids we needed no one, including government, to tell us that we had to pay for services. It, therefore, came as a surprise when government decided to foot the bill for private school students at tertiary level.
There were other more pressing developments emerging from the same policy direction. Suddenly, enrolment numbers in government-owned institutions such as IHS and college of educations went dramatically down. These institutions, having been built with Batswana’s tax payers moneys were literally rendered white elephants overnight at the expense of private institutions. It became a case of government sabotaging its own institutions to help support privately-owned ones. This move raised critical questions. What is wrong with public funded education? Why give preference to private education providers given their obvious limitations? As I indicated earlier their enrolments went up and they were not shy to employ unconventional means to attract prospective candidates, such as moving across the breadth and width of this country holding Kgotla meetings where prospective students have to apply for admission. If this sounded crazy, it is also at these same Kgotla meetings where individuals learn whether they have been admitted or not (it hardly happens that anyone is not admitted!). Consequently, the key question centres on the expected quality of graduates from these institutions.
The illustration above is meant for the reader to appreciate the kind of Botswana we currently exist in: A corruption infested country. Government policy on many fronts have shifted drastically from what used to be to something difficult to define nowadays. Due diligence is undermined. Conflict of interest is not anything to worry anybody. Like they say, after all we are all related. A minister wants to tell us that he or she is not conflicted, for instance, when a company she owns does business with an institution relying for existence on her ministry. I know the minister concerned wanted to distance herself from the company claiming that she sold it to her son and others. There is, obviously, a case of perceived conflict of interest. That she should have acknowledged instead of trying to hide behind nothing. This is the new Botswana, where quality does not matter. Unless something drastic happens, we are destined for failure.
*Dr Molefhe teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
