Honesty and sincerity are features that are all in short supply in the current government.
Just when we thought Government would engage civil servants in a direct and candid dialogue, we now see through the budget speech that it will be a while before anything meaningful d├®tente is reached between government and trade unions.
The government strategy it would seem has not changed.
It remains to discredit trade union leaders by making them look like they are the bad guys who do not have at heart the interests of the membership.
This became apparent in a statement by the Minister of Finance Monday morning as he read out the budget speech.
He attempted in very subtle but unmistakable way to put pressure on trade unions to accept government offer as quickly as possible failing which civil servants would be disadvantaged.
While making his government look like a good guy, he deliberately left out to also state clearly that in the same way that government has made an offer, the same goes for the other side who on behalf of their members have made a demand, which from the information that we have is much higher than the offer by government which is now being hurriedly sold to the public.
“Madam Speaker, the Government remains fully committed to the Bargaining Council in the process of negotiating public service salaries and will continue to consult with Trade Unions. Despite the downside risks with respect to the prospects for diamond revenues, the need to repay outstanding debt and continue to restore our net financial asset position, Government has nevertheless made an offer to the Unions. Such an offer is based on projected financial resources and it is expected that the Trade Unions will appreciate the budgetary constraints facing the Government.┬á We hope that the negotiations by the Bargaining Council will be concluded soon and an agreement reached, before the beginning of the next financial year, so that public servants are not disadvantaged.
It is very easy to dissect the statement above by the Minister of Finance.
First he wants to create an impression that his government is committed to the Bargaining Council.
This is important to state upfront because Government has in the past as is in this instance gone out of its way to undermine the Bargaining Council.
Without any prodding, he then goes on to say an offer has been to trade unions notwithstanding the fact that prospect surrounding government revenues are not yet clear.
He then adds that government priority remains restoring the net financial position – in other words a surplus; and implicitly not the welfare of the civil servants.
This is a government that has not increased salaries since more than six years ago.
Clearly it is also a government that remains wedded to the old dogma that budget surplus is always a good thing.
The truth of the matter is that under the current dynamics, of economic uncertainty and fragile recovery it might be a good thing to use civil service salaries to stimulate both the economy and demand.
The case for budget surplus is not always convincing.
In fact a fiscal deficit is one of the instruments that can be used to induce demand and thus stimulate the economy.
By dicing and playing chess with the salaries of the civil service as the Minister of Finance is doing, the government is effectively prolonging the demand deficiency that has afflicted this country non-stop since 2008.
As one prominent British economist recently said “the time to worry about a patient’s lifestyle is not during attack. The need is to keep them alive.”
And very clearly the Botswana economy is a patient under attack.
What should be of concern to us is to keep the patient alive. And under the circumstances increased salaries and not budget surpluses can save the economy.
What the government is doing is to induce a government-orchestrated slowdown of the economy which in the end will mean the Minister of Finance is unable to achieve the very goals he has set for himself; budget surplus and debt down payments.
Given the stresses that the economy is going through, the Minister and his government are implementing what is called “unproductive savings.”
They are labouring under an illusion that by not paying civil servants salaries they are saving money.
But of what productive value are those savings?
