It’s time to admit that under the current structural makeup, our district councils, which are arguably the most important administrative units for our country have not worked as efficiently as we had liked them to.
Their biggest shortcoming is that they have let down the very people who need government services most.
District Councils are the linchpin of local government administration.
But given their glaring shortcomings there is need for a root and branch overhaul of the entire setup.
As currently constituted, our District Councils also serve as colonial vestiges that fuel tribal and ethnic embers that are part of the country’s colonial hangover.
A lot has over the years happened to create new boundaries by setting up new sub-districts.
That has been commendable, but from available evidence has clearly not been enough to match modern day public administrate dictates.
Instead of being administrative centres, some district councils have effectively become fortresses.
If you take the Central District Council for example, there is no evidence that given its size it would be an ideal instrument for efficient public service.
The CDC is so large that it has become administratively clumsy.
The same applies to the Okavango and to a lesser extent also the Kgalagadi District.
More worrisome about the CDC is not only its size, but also the large population in it.
Granted there are sub-districts and administrative centres in it that are part of the halfhearted devolution process.
But even such centres are still expected to report hundreds of kilometers away on some crucial local matters.
This is so because sub districts are still led by officials who are subordinate to a Council Secretary who sits at the head office.
While more sub-districts are no doubt still a good thing, what is important is to seriously consider breaking up some districts into more fully autonomous districts.
There is no prize for name the top candidates for such dividing.
Still dividing some of these districts will not be easy, first because some populations, especially at the centre still look at their districts sizes as a source of their tribal prestige.
Such tribalists are not the only ones to contend with.
Their satellite clients in the peripheries also do not want to be detached from the centre because they use such attachments to overlord other people.
This is the kind of subtle tribalism that has to be fought, which unfortunately is at various levels being fueled including by politicians ÔÇô in both the ruling and opposition ÔÇô who still see merit in arguments premised on tribal supremacy.
The fact of the matter is that as currently constituted our district councils are more tribal, partly political and less administrative in purpose and outlook.
They are designed to perpetuate tribal stereotypes and not enhance service delivery.
At the most charitable they are objects of empire building by public servants including politicians many of who still find reason in the silly debates that some tribes are more important than others.
One step that could be taken is to delink naming district councils after tribal formations.
This would relieve the current pressure of some tribes that see maintaining huge districts as evidence of their supremacy.
It would also take away from the often parochial, provincial and tribalistic politicians the need to use tribalism as a way of garnering votes, while dividing the country.
Also relieved from such colonialism induced pressures would be some senior government officers who deep in their hearts still retain the divisive and corrosive tribal identities.
Given the entrenched emotional interests involved, but also the strong tribal links, dismantling the current district councils and creating altogether new ones will no doubt come at a political high especially for those taking such decisions.
Thus doing so should be done forcefully but transparently by way of engaging all involved through telling all that there is nothing to gain.
The overhaul would require a razor sharp scalpel if it is to be successful.
Anything less would result in a backlash the kind that could lead Botswana to a resurgence of pre-independence tribal formations.
