A colleague from the University of Botswana recently asked me an open and genuine question. “How do we fix our ailing economy Thabo? Certainly we can no longer sit and pretend all is fine, we can no longer listen to the lies provided by the political party in power. We cannot just look at a system that favours political relationships over competence. Some of them are pathetic liars, out right looters, fake pretenders, very corrupt and are even worse than prostitutes”, remarked my colleague.
“They are like Fish in the water, very slippery. As he was on with his statement, I could see anger written all over his face, pretending to be a worried patriot and ready to die for his country”. “I just fail to understand why God had to punish us like this? We are doomed, very doomed. It will take us many years to recover economically but we all have ourselves to blame.”
I looked at him and said “Certainly not me”. I told him, the quality of a leader who has been appointed or elected will determine whether they choose to take part in corruption or not.
One of the famous quotes from Karl Kraus is that “Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country. It is presently one of the major challenges facing the human race. It is widely seen as a threat to human existence to the extent that it is now commonly referred to as “Crime against Humanity”. Corruption exists at many different levels. While in the 1990’s the Deported Professor of Political Science, Kenneth Good chronicled a series of corruption scandals involving BDP elites and their close cronies that was just a tip of an iceberg. The latest revelations in the country regarding corruption reveal a lot where it now done with impunity and arrogance.
Grand corruption, in contrast, involves high ranking public officials or politicians who influence policies and rules. They can influence policy to give businesses unfettered access to natural resources ÔÇô Bo “Morupule B jaana” or pass laws or regulations that are in the interest of those who are willing to pay, “Bo BCL” jaana. Another form of grand corruption occurs when politicians buy votes or lure opposition political activist /members to their fort by using the brown envelope ÔÇô Dirty Money and showing off new recruits on national television every other week and “They call that strategy”. It is now where high powered officials reward their recruits with financial support.
Corruption is presently one of the major challenges facing human race. There are many economic and social costs associated with corruption. Although not well documented, corruption has raised its ugly head in Botswana. Its consequences are disproportionately borne by the poor who unfortunately do not have resources to compete with bo “Makgorane” ÔÇô Fat cats where they only matter at election time or when there are the Clint Eastwood country side site visits in their respective areas, where the poor rural folks would be vetted just to have a borne fire with their own Donald Trump..
Poor souls would be made to dance and ululate endlessly with some old men having to climb trees just to have a glimpse at Trump.
Economic development becomes difficult where corruption leads to diversion of scarce public resources to un-economic high profile projects such as bo- back yard gardening, Tirelo Sechaba scheme, internship programmes, celebrations of BOT50, Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) to the exclusion of necessary infrastructure projects such as hospitals, water treatment plants (with rumors that Gaborone Dam water is contaminated), roads. Ultimately, corruption benefits the “haves” at the expense of the “have nots which can lead to growing economic and social inequalities and leading to emergence of pretenders, over draft millionaires, wannabes, fishy mamparas and tenderpreneurs who like to name throw, always rushing to caution those holding a different view to theirs. There is just so much intolerance and we are now all expected to be PARROTS like some of those Ministers and MPs from the ruling BDP who have been turned into DODOs and are all expected to worship BIG BROTHER,
Under the current prevailing political leadership the policy agenda of Botswana on fighting corruption and poverty is not there. Le Bo di “D” Tota, were just a fallacy, or a script mis-understood and or mis- interpreted. It is one thing to read and understand and be able to implement and it is one thing just to read, for the sake of reading. Spencer Mogapi in his latest opinion piece make mention of that and was short of calling BDP Trump a total flop who has ran out of ideas. There is high un-employment, insecurity and general social and moral decay. All these can be blamed on bad governance and more particularly, misrule and false pretences, le maaka.
Botswana’s government has earned a reputation for “clean” governance of public resources. Good governance is seen as the fundamental reason for Botswana’s positive political and economic record. The country is seen as a heaven of prosperity and stability in a region full of economic and political misery. The NGO Transparency International has consistently rated Botswana the least corrupt of all African countries included in its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
This mis-guided illusion has open doors for serious looting through various clandestine means such as selling of state owned enterprises with undercover deals. Leading to Batlogolo ba bo Makgorane go re ba ruge go ruga. Motho wa teng fa o monna o tsaya go re is a hard worker, ntenko ke legodu la last number, a thief, a pathetic criminal, who sees everything as their time to eat. Gel; Bleksmes!!!!!!!As my colleague would remark.
It is important to note that the pursuit of meritocracy is more difficult to achieve, more especially under the current political leadership as it has been alleged, which is determined on breaking rules, to the extent of interfering on how institutions are run, should be run and whom they must hire, promote and fire from work using institutional processes to their benefit. These days Institutions that emphasize meritocratic ideals serve to reinforce an employee’s belief that they are impartial, which creates the exact conditions under which implicit and explicit biases are unleashed. This strong commitment to meritocratic ideals can lead to suspicion of efforts that aim to support particular demographic groups. Initiatives, designed to recruit or provide development opportunities to under-represented groups often come under attack as “reverse discrimination.
But is this true? Do commitments to meritocracy and objectivity lead to more fair corporate governance and in workplaces?
“Owaii, not when we have bogus instutions offering degree programs in filling stations and giving their programmes sophisticated names that fascinates Bo- Mafikizolo ba di Ministara.
Mo ke yone “Tlhakantshuke”
Where it has now become a norm for some to behave like corporate or rather marital prostitutes where transactional sex syndrome reins supreme, promotions and recruitment done on patronage and not based on merit. Turning some innocent souls into prostitutes, thinking they are obliged to give it to them and those in the know, states that cut across gender, while others would disagree and state that those who holds such a view ba bua “ Matanyola”.
Batswana must therefore, jealously guard against apparatus of government being made to become an instrument for the enrichment of members of the politically dominant group. It must not allow the few elites to use the redistributive powers of the state to enrich themselves while sentencing the majority to perpetual poverty and deprivation.
*Thabo Lucas Seleke writes from Seleme Farm, Rasesa
