I befriended some tourists from the Netherlands over the festive break and while we were busy clubbing and dancing the night away in Maun, the police arrived and ordered the night club to close down. You should have seen the shock on the faces of the tourists. They just couldn’t get it. I mean, the night was still young, by any night life standards. The club was fully packed. Revellers were still getting jiggy with it and for fok sake it was a holiday, meaning a lot of people were not reporting for duty the next morning. It was at this point that the tourists started to share with us about their country. The entertainment industry is so damn liberated in the Netherlands. The police only show up at night clubs to ensure that no one is disturbing other people’s fun.
They don’t come to bully revellers and abruptly stop the fun as is the case in our country. Night clubs operate all night in the Netherlands, as they should everywhere. Prostitution is legal and so is abortion. Smoking marijuana is legal in the Netherlands. And with all those things freely enjoyed in the Netherlands, there is no anarchy in the country. They don’t have abject poverty like us and are not hard hit by HIV/AIDS like us. The reason is simply because by legalising all those things already mentioned, their government is easily able to regulate, control and protect prostitutes, night clubbers and marijuana smokers. As I was busy chatting with these tourists just outside the club, after being kicked out by our overzealous police, whom I do not blame, some local sisters approached us and made sexual offers to my two white friends. One of them was very brave enough to make it clear to the guys that she offers sex for money services. I was so embarrassed but the two fellows seemed to be at ease with the whole ‘me nice’ approach by the local sisters. They were so shocked when I told them prostitution was deemed illegal in Botswana. We talked about a lot of things and after being surprised that prostitution was not legal in a democratic country, they were left speechless when I told them that abortion was also illegal in our country.
One of them asked me, “What exactly are you freely allowed to enjoy in your country?” Just as I was still scratching my head trying to come up with that one thing we are freely allowed to enjoy here, the other tourist chipped in, “Your country must be boring hey!” At this point I was now looking like an idiot with my head shifting sideways between the two tourists as they bombarded me with questions that I struggled to answer. Probably picking that I had no answers to their endless questions about my boring country, one of them came to my rescue and offered an answer to the entire predicament that we find ourselves in, especially when it comes to the entertainment life in our country. He said, “Well, a country with a boring president will surely be boring too, especially when the president is someone who imposes his personal life preferences on the nation”. This guy deserved ‘a Bells’ for that so on-point analysis. I mean, I have always posited that it is wrong for our president to try and stop all of us from drinking alcohol just because he personally abhors it. It is very wrong for the president to force us to sleep early just because he personally sleeps early. I have always said Khama is our leader and not our parent. Khama has to understand that a nation is made up of people from different backgrounds with different preferences in life. Look, Khama should not apply his military leadership on the nation. Soldiers chose to join the army while the rest of us did not choose to be citizens of this country. Soldiers have no choice but to abide by the military discipline because they chose to be there.
My tourist friend is of the view that Batswana deserve no sympathy from outsiders because they have chosen the circumstances they currently find themselves in. He says if we truly feel our leaders make our country boring, we should then vote them out and get those who will allow us the freedom to have unlimited fun because we are not saying government should buy us beer or pay for our night club entrance fees. All we are asking for is to be allowed to spend our money and time anyhow and for as long as we wish. This reminded me of the fact that this is the year of the general election where we are expected to vote in leaders of our choice. We have the power and the right to choose either boring leaders who will in turn make our country boring or we can vote in leaders who will appreciate that we are individuals in a democratic society. We have the power to vote for leaders who will allow us undisrupted access to all night prayers at churches of our own choice or all night drinking and dancing at night clubs of our choice. Batswana should not be fooled this time around.
We have observed how during the election year, politicians treat the voter as boss, only to turn the roles after the election where now the voter becomes the servant and dances to the tune of the politician. It may be wrong and some people may not be amused by it but the fact of the matter is that Batswana enjoy their entertainment space. Batswana are desperate for fun times. Batswana enjoy their dance and beer. It’s a fact that more than half of the working class in Botswana do imbibe. It’s also a fact that more than half our representatives in parliament, the law-making body, also drink alcohol. It is therefore surprising that this country’s entertainment, including the consumption of alcohol, can be held at ransom by just one man who has chosen to lead a boring life and extend it to the entire nation. This year we must, as drinkers and voters, ensure that we become the boss and elect people who do not lead boring lives so as to avoid them forcing their boring lives onto us.
