Of recent, there have been a number of unusual issues that have come to dominate public discourse that pointed to a radical change in the way our current leadership conducts national business. So dramatic and radical have these changes that even those who hardly find anything wrong with the current administration are starting to voice their concerns. Instructive in that regard will be the recent BDP Gaborone Region which have come in the open criticising the way things are done in our republic. Among the resolutions they reached was a plea to those in charge of our country to address issues of assignment and membership of parastatals. Commendably, they have started talking about the need to put a brake on an apparent erosion of governance standards which, if not addressed, are bound to drag this country down. These are, indeed, changing times!
Without doubt, the changes are of a greater magnitude. Nothing of comparable scale has ever been observed under our largely conservative society. Yes, these changes have rocked the very foundation of our republic. For instance, large scale corruption and mismanagement within our parastatals are the order of the day. Not only that, national projects such as stadiums, roads and airports cannot be completed in time, if only they were given any. Ministers are reportedly on the loose. The rot is clearly demonstrated by the foreign affair boss’s reckless charge on the newly appointed Kenyan president. Give me a break. Who do we think we are? In the local front the same impatience with citizens is very much on the rise. However, nothing beats the latest stunt advanced by the minister of finance and development planning, Kenneth Mathambo to sue parliament. How could he sue himself?
Indeed, all these are but a sure sign that the wheels are coming off. These problems and many others reflect badly on the way our country is managed by our current leadership. But as a nation we have been reduced to this unfortunate level in a blink of an eye: a banana republic.
Indeed, nothing seems to work these days. But we do have clear answers as to how we arrived at this current situation. And in here I am reminded of the words of caution by Rre Masire captured in his autobiography, ‘Very brave or very foolish: memoirs of an African democrat’, when he observed that, “I have always worried that people with selfish interests, instead of national interests, would join politics. Perhaps we were simply lucky during my years in office that so many who were interested in the public good became politicians.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Undoubtedly, the genesis of our current predicament began when people who are driven by self-serving motives arrived in the political scene.
Faced with the current mess, one cannot be faulted to suggest that our current leadership is stuck in a crisis mode of management. They are constantly putting out fires. Sadly, they do not have appropriate tools to address contemporary challenges this country grapples with. The latest shot-stop measure, for example, entails blacklisting of Chinese contractors in government projects.
In the first place, who brought them here? And will the proposed solution address the core problems? Put bluntly, we need a new guard to advance the interest of the citizenry. Lucky, ours is a democracy in which different political parties compete (supposedly) for state power.
One would have assumed that the above mentioned sordid landscape would have provided an opportunity for our opposition parties to demonstrate to Batswana that they are ready to put aside their differences and work for a common good of ameliorating the nation from the clutches of the ruling party. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground suggest otherwise.
The latest parliamentary by-election in Letlhakeng West provides context for my pessimistic conclusion. A short background indicates that the constituency was under the BDP, which won it in 2009 by only 34 or so votes. The BNF was the other contender in the last general elections. Fast forward to where we are now. The by-election has been sparked by the dearth of Maxwell Motowane (May his soul rest in peace). Three parties expressed interest to contest being the BDP, the Umbrella (under the BNF ticket) and, surprisingly, the BCP.
Taolo Lucas, the BCP publicity secretary, is on record indicating that as a party they have sent an advanced team to the area to assess whether to field a candidate or not. His expression sounded more like a line taken from those 1980s ninja adventure movies – very pedestrian, very dull and little on detail in terms of the exact purpose of their participation in the latest by-election. Certainly, the stakes for this by-election are very high on the part of the main contenders. And no one in the opposition rank can claim they don’t know the significance of this contest. As in the 2009 elections, every vote will count, and any loss of vote on the opposition rank cannot be tolerated. And this is what the BCP wanted to do. Split the opposition vote and the rest is history.
The surprise doesn’t only end there. Following realisation that their candidate, Thuto Thuto, was ineligible to contest, the BCP machinery moved swiftly announcing its support for the BNF candidate through the media. Yes, they did not mention support for the Umbrella; instead, they choose to talk about the BNF. Why the BNF, why not UDC? By all accounts the BCP knows that the Umbrella which, sadly, they do not consider viable or relevant is the one contesting the constituency under the ticket of the BNF. This is deliberately meant to sow seeds of mistrust amongst the Umbrella partners or at best to destabilise the Umbrella project. In short, the latest BCP stunt was designed to create tension within the UDC arrangement.
Furthermore, as was indicated by Mohammed Khan, the BCP purported support for the BNF needed to be supplemented by concrete action on the ground. To him, it is not only enough to talk; rather, action is more important particularly when stakes are as high as is the case in Letlhakeng West. They need to be there on the ground with UDC members mobilising voters. They should address joint rallies and many other useful activities if their support is to be welcome. Otherwise talk without action is nothing.
I thought I should sign off by reminding readers of the famous words of wisdom by a certain Greek philosopher noting that when you find two people fighting ÔÇô a very weak against a well resourced one and you choose to sit and watch, you are technically supporting the strongest. I am afraid the behaviour the BCP displays in Letlhakeng West points towards that unfortunate reality.
