“If I were the workers, I would demand my job and livelihood from them,” the Sunday Standard of July 17-23 quotes the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, as saying.
He reportedly made these remarks when commenting on a motion calling for the reinstatement of the sacked public servants. He feels the motion is irrelevant and those sacked officers deserved the punishment and should demand their lost jobs from opposition political parties.
It pains me when leaders make fun of the workers who lost their jobs. Those employees embarked on a lawful strike that was only meant to highlight the plight of the government workers, including the sell-outs who did not take part in the strike.
It pains when Masisi and some of his colleagues in the BDP appear so determined to punish public servants with such impunity just because they foolishly believe by punishing the employees, they are frustrating opposition parties.
It is quite evident Khama and his cabinet ministers are on a mission to punish those civil servants who embarked on the strike recently. They have attached personal emotions to the issue of the strike.
According to Masisi, opposition MPs lack the integrity to discuss the reinstatement of the workers because, as far as he is concerned, opposition MPs misled the sacked employees.
I’m surprised that Masisi could be the one uttering such hogwash. All along I have regarded Masisi as an intelligent leader but it would seem I had overrated him.
Masisi should understand that those opposition MPs, in fact all MPs, sit in parliament to represent the interests of the nation. Masisi should be reminded that he is in parliament to represent the voice of his constituents and, as such, whatever he says in parliament should reflect the mood, hopes, thoughts and aspirations of his constituents. As such, when he makes silly and insensitive statements, we attach them to his constituents and I doubt they support his satirical approach to such serious issues.
I have observed that a lot of ministers have turned into Khama’s parrots and they will always make statements similar to his no matter how foolish they appear after making the statements. Just because Khama has blamed opposition parties for what he terms negative influence on the workers, now his cabinet ministers have joined in the chorus.
Acting Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Edwin Batshu, failed to give parliament sensible answers as to why Army Commander, Tebogo Masire, made political statements during a recent press briefing.
When he ran out of answers, Batshu tried to divert attention from the issue at hand and instead insisted that opposition MPs were to blame for the strike and calls for regime change.
Perhaps with the hope of being appointed minister, Batshu has decided to put his brains on pause and parrot words that would only make his masters happy.
Now Masisi has decided not to be left out in mimicking Khama. Just recently at the BDP congress in Mahalapye, Khama painted those who embarked on the strike unpatriotic.
It would seem, according to Khama, everyone who disagrees with his presidency is unpatriotic. He fails to draw the line between being patriotic to one’s country and being a puppet to the president. Being patriotic doesn’t mean accepting every rubbish that your leadership piles up on you.
Being patriotic doesn’t mean you should be a praise poet to the leadership. Now it appears most of Khama’s ministers have turned into his puppets and they are all out to recruit more puppets as shown by their statements.
They copy everything that he does; I would not be surprised if some of them file for divorce to become bachelors. I have noticed how most of his cabinet ministers have started to wear khaki waist coats just because the president always wears one.
Minister Frank Ramsden once said he doesn’t read newspapers just because Khama had fooled them into believing he doesn’t read local newspapers. It beats logic that the same man who claims not to read newspapers, never misses an opportunity to lash out at the local media.
I wish our MPs and cabinet ministers would know that there is nothing wrong in raising an opinion opposite to that of the president. There should not be a problem with Batshu advising Khama against redeploying Kenny Kapinga. They have worked together for a long time and if there is one man who can recommend Kapinga to Khama, it has to be Batshu.
I have noticed how Botswana becomes boring during holidays because of the reduced hours of operation for entertainment outlets. It baffles me why our government would shorten hours of entertainment during holidays when people are not working. Our ministers, because they choose to be parrots, failed to prevail over Khama to liberate night life in Botswana yet they know very well that Khama comes up with these draconian laws only because they don’t affect his life style.
I’m fed up with silly statements coming from our leaders every week. There seems to be a lot of arrogance and intolerance in the Khama led regime and this will surely divide this otherwise peaceful nation that has lived in harmony for so many years despite political differences. Khama’s leadership is so personalised when you talk about his presidency he takes it as a personal attack on him.
As these MPs continue to display arrogance and insensitivity, I can only wish their constituents are watching and listening. I know Batswana have dwarfed memories and they might forget all these in the next general elections. I hope to be still around so I can remind Batswana.
Surely, people such as Minister Masisi, who revel at making silly pokes at workers who lost their jobs, deserve a hot slap across the face. However, I would urge the sacked workers not to hit back at Masisi physically because there is a sure way to hurt Masisi and teach him that losing a job is a serious issue that deserves serious comments and that can only be through elections.
Masisi’s voters should distance themselves from his silly remarks by denying him the mandate to represent them.
