I often tell people that nothing illustrates that power has no values than a motor vehicle. You can drive a car into somebody’s house and it will not stop to ask you why? It seems to me that in Botswana ever since independence our leaders have used their power in a manner that shows quite clearly that power has no values.
Our constitution states that a president need not take anyone’s counsel in the exercise of his executive power. There is no value proposition in this provision. Parliament on the other hand is empowered to make laws for the order, peace and good government of Botswana.
This is a value proposition. Laws made by parliament must of necessity promote order, peace and good government. One must here note that parliament is not being asked to choose between three alternatives. This suggests that parliament cannot make a law whose purpose is to promote order only or any of the other two attributes in isolation.
When it comes to executive power we are faced with a different cup of tea. A president need not in exercise of his executive power promote any particular value. This has resulted in very disturbing policy positions.
Like others before, I me have a difficulty understanding how our government can build houses for the poor on the one hand, and repossess undeveloped plots on the other. Our government can for years shelve development projects because there is no funding but apparently this does not apply to private individuals.
The Botswana Daily News has a Setswana section, but we cannot have our constitution translated into Setswana. Why is it more important for our people to read the opinions of ministers and public servants in Setswana and not to read the constitution in Setswana?
One of the gentlemen whom our media likes to hold up as a champion of democracy, Rre Kwelagobe, was at one time responsible for the government media. Why did he not see it fit to ensure that our people can access a Setswana version of the constitution? In all the time that he has been at the center of power as a Member of Parliament he has never sponsored a private members bill to ensure that the constitution is translated into Setswana.
What special English and legal words are found in our constitution that never find their way into the opinions of ministers and public servants that are invariably translated into Setswana? What ideas and concepts are found in our constitution that can only find expression in English and not in Setswana?
If there are any such ideas and concepts that after more than forty years cannot be expressed in Setswana then why do we do we have a Setswana section of the Daily News? This would tend to suggest that the Setswana section is intended to give a half picture of what is really happening, to deceive.
Seretse, Masire, Mogae and Khama have never expressed disquiet about the provision that empowers a president to exercise executive power without regard to anyone’s counsel. There is no way that anyone of them can claim to have been born with all the requisite knowledge and values to lead a people or to run a country. But they are happy to have a provision that says they need not take anybody’s advice. What informs a man to uphold such a law?
I sometimes wonder why we have concepts like national security in our laws when we have a constitution that says a president need not really listen to anyone. Supposing the security agencies were to advice a president that there was a threat to our national security. In terms of our law he has unfettered discretion as to what he does. Because his exercise of power is not guided by any values he can very well do as he pleases.
If one looks at the housing initiative for the poor one cannot help but see a continuation of this unguided use of executive power. The poor account for about a fifth of our people. One can add to this group the working poor. These groups get the crumbs of our national economy. To provide housing for the poor is like improving the nutritional content of the crumbs. It does not address the core issue, which is the share of the national economy that our people get.
Imagine a situation where you get the crumbs that fall off the table of the ruling elite. The human body needs a certain quantity of nutrients to survive in a healthy state. The crumbs like the food on the table will have a certain concentration of minerals and vitamins. The quantity though will be lower than the daily recommended level.
It does not make sense for one who sits at the table to engage you on the level of nutrients in the crumbs when your concern is the quantity.
In my view it does not make sense to ask Batswana to contribute to improving the lot of the poor whilst at the same time failing to empower Batswana through formulation of a citizen economic empowerment law. It is hardly surprising that those who are making donations dominate the retail sector and belong to the visible minorities.
By contributing they are at best reducing their profits ever so slightly. In the case of Batswana they are being asked to contribute a part of their earnings. When one considers that the profits come from Batswana one cannot help but see the insensitivity of our leaders to our situation.
Our leaders have the power but not the values to guide them on its use. They have power to allocate plots but do not appreciate that we all have only one life. If one is dispossessed of a plot one suffers a major setback. This is not an economic decision as some will have us believe but a value judgment. There are less than two million of us. Why the hurry to penalize those who cannot develop?
I recently through a private company tried to develop commercial units for sale. I was shocked to notice that only foreigners and the visible minorities made serious enquiries. It showed me how little economic power our people have. I do not believe our leaders are unaware of this situation. It is just that in their deepest hearts they do not want our people to have a say in how this country is governed. They believe with economic power our people will want to have a say.
Let me not be understood to be referring to Rre Khama alone. Seretse, Masire, Mogae and Kwelagobe share this idea. Kwelagobe has been in parliament for a donkey years. He has never sponsored a private members bill to formulate a citizen economic empowerment law.
The only difference between Kwelagobe and Khama is that of method. Kwelagobe knows how to play the freedom of expression card. He makes the right noises but does not take concrete steps to accommodate our people.
Khama on the other hand calculates and makes least cost concessions. He goes out of his way to engage the poor knowing full well that a 200 percent improvement in their economic situation is irrelevant to the economic power game.
What is the purpose of inner party democracy and consultation in the appointment sub committees if in the final analysis a president need not subscribe to any shared values in the exercise of his executive power? Surely if a president need not take anybody’s advice, he need not consider any shared values in the exercise of his executive power. Now what value is it to us for a man to uphold inner party democracy whilst at the same time supporting our exclusion in the governance of this country?
Seretse, Masire, Mogae, Khama and Kwelagobe share the belief that a president need not take into account any shared values in exercise of his executive power. If Kwelagobe believes otherwise why has he never sponsored a private members bill to amend the section to ensure that a president takes into account our shared national values as a matter of law? In typical Kwelagobe fashion he supports a review of the constitution.
He knows that will garner him support but will maintain the status quo of excluding us from the governance of this country. Why has he not sponsored a private members bill to ensure a review of our constitution? After all review is not one of the processes for amendment. This is the only way he can demonstrate his support for he has recently told the nation that motions of parliament are not binding on the executive. Batswana bare kgomo e tshwarwa ka lonaka, motho ka lefoko.
If you are being swept away by a flooding river does it make sense for someone to reach for you with their hand instead of standing on solid ground and throwing you the rope that they are holding so they can pull you out? Kwelagobe has been on solid ground; our parliament, for many years yet he has never sponsored any law to advance democracy, good governance, and meaningful participation of our people in the economy.
All we hear is his voice within the arena of freedom of expression but silence when it comes to law making.
