Although Government is unable to muster enough courage as to be able to honestly tell the nation what is really happening behind the scenes, all evidence points to the fact that the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) will never see the light of day.
An official truism is that, like many other projects, the price tag of setting up BIUST has become unaffordable as a result of the financial troubles that the country is currently facing.
Attached to that, though without any meaningful elaboration, Government also says conditions in the tertiary education sector have changed so dramatically that it is no longer worthwhile to have a state of the art research university specializing on science, technology and engineering.
Of course that is rubbish.
A close look at Botswana’s human resource needs ÔÇô as is indeed the case across the globe, points to a shortage of technical skills, especially in engineering.
Countries that are able to export such skills are countries that will be best positioned in future to compete.
The need for a university that specializes in science and technology is more urgent now than was the case a few years ago.
In fact, the need for such a university is much greater today than it was a few years ago when Government, under Festus Mogae, rightly came up with the idea.
Lest we forget the idea to build a second university was not exclusively Government’s.
The idea was part of a wide ranging public consultation through a task force that traversed the length and breadth of the country asking the nation just where to build such a school.
It, therefore, is awfully wrong and banal for government to just kill the idea without the input of the nation who crafted it.
The thinking in establishing BIUST was that the university would serve not just Botswana but the entire subcontinent and the world, given that growing need for science based training.
Given the lack of good faith on the part of Government, any serious person is bound to come to the conclusion that economic recession is not just a smokescreen but is also fraudulent and implausible excuse to shut out the nation on a very important national project.
That recession has become a most precious alibi for an irresponsible Government that is forever on the lookout for excuses to mislead its people can no longer be refuted.
Even on instances where poor planning and official corruption are clear culprits, our Government never flinches to tell lies that recession is to blame.
The Minister of Education likes to say she is still awaiting recommendations from a committee of experts.
Just as wrong as the tactic to blame recession has been, the tactic to pretend no decision has been taken when the opposite is true is totally unpardonable.
It is clear a decision has been taken that Botswana is not going to have a second university.
In fact, that is what President Ian Khama said while meeting a group of Botswana students studying in Japan during his recent visit to that country.
We know that a Presidential directive that was intended to seal the fate of BIUST was withdrawn last minute after it became clear that its contents had been leaked prematurely.
It would seem like the government has opted to adopt a strategy of deliberate misinformation and disinformation.
We call on Government to reconsider its decision to kill BIUST.
Even if Government was right in its reasons, there will still be a need for an honest public debate on just how to go about shelving or reducing a project that promised to be the most potent in the nation’s agenda to diversify the economy.
