Sir, how do you justify the construction of an airstrip at your Mosu compound, which in the main will benefit you, when by your own admission government revenues continue to be under severe strain? In your persistent kgotla visits you consistently ask Batswana to make the necessary sacrifices in the face of economic hardship; or do you consider the presidency exempt from fiscal discipline and the need to make concessions for the greater good? Are you unwilling to forgo visiting your vacation home(s); instead asking Batswana to bear the cost, which you and your administration refuse to disclose? Is the tax-payer, as is rumored, also to bear the costs of the construction of a holiday retreat for your personage at this venue? Do we pay for your holidays?
And do we bear the costs for those that accompany you on said escapes? How many homes for destitutes and blankets for the poor could the cost of the Mosu airstrip have covered? Furthermore, while your tour of rural homesteads is praiseworthy, why have you not dedicated the same amount of time and energy to vising urban centers and conducting consultations in municipal settings where 62.25% of this country’s population reside? Are the challenges faced by those residing in cities and towns of less concern to you than those who inhabit the countryside? Are you unaware or do you choose to ignore that urbanites too would like the opportunity to address you with regard to crumbling and/or deficient infrastructure, the alarming rates of crime in metropolitan areas, policing, the cost of land and housing, unemployment, the state of sanitation, education and other services? Or is it that urban voter apathy and the strength of the opposition in urban areas makes this an unpleasant proposition as well as one that is unnecessary politically?
Is your government ignoring the fact that urban areas command an increasingly dominant role in this country’s economy and that the rapid rate of urban growth is seriously outstripping the capacity of most municipalities to provide adequate services for their citizens? The general public realize that the poverty eradication schemes and policies instituted by your government are well-intended; yet research into such programmes has subsequently suggested that these programmes are unsustainable in the long-run and have not had any real impact on the overall economy due to a lack of synchronicity and scope; yet your office continues to insist that such arrangements are paying off. Can you show us the data that backs up this assertion?
How does an Ipelegeng worker who earns P500 a month cutting grass improve his social and economic circumstances in either the long or short run? What training does he/she receive that would allow such an individual to better themselves? What is the rationale behind these programmes? Have these programmes not just added greater pressure to the already tremendous government wage bill? How does a recipient of the back-yard gardening programme continue with his/her project when water restrictions are in place or in a drought year? How do they support themselves during the non-growing season? Is it not time to take a critical look at these programmes and re-evaluate their effectiveness? As leader of this nation and the instigator of the 5 Ds, women had hoped that you’d address the conduct and behavior of Botswana’s menfolk.
How can your administration promote the 5Ds and the Vision 2016 pillars (for e.g. a safe and secure nation) while the current rates of teenage pregnancy, rape, defilement, “passion killings” and other forms of violence against women remain alarmingly high? Why do you so rarely address gender issues? Why doesn’t each and every police-station in Botswana have a sex crimes division or officers trained specifically to deal with sexual abuses and/or violence against women? Do you think women are more concerned with the number of women you appoint to positions of leadership or the basic needs, education and safety of their families? What is your understanding of the nature of the challenges faced by women and girls in this country? Ratification of gender protocols aside, what concrete programmes and strategies does your government have to improve the lot of women?
Excellency, with regard to term limits and succession plans; (assuming that the BDP is returned to power) can you tell us unequivocally that you will step down once your legally assigned tenure is over? Or do you foresee any situation or circumstance, in which you would attempt to amend the constitution so as to remain in office? Does your political blueprint for the future include appointing you brother, The Honorable Tshekedi Khama to the position of Vice-President? Is it your intention that he succeed you as president? Do you envisage a Khama political dynasty leading Botswana into the future? Do you intend to return the Honorable Ramadeluka Seretse to parliament using the ‘specially-elected’ mechanism? Have you at this point in time made any undertakings, to any member of the BDP (particularly those who lost primaries) that you would return them to parliament? Have you, even before the outcome of general election already reserved the ‘specially-elected’ stations or will you seek fresh talent? And if it is new blood that you will pursue, what makes up your selection criteria? Mr. President, what assurances can you give us with regard to the ruling BDP and how members of your party will conduct themselves in the future especially in light the appalling manner and mien of party members during BDP primaries? How do we trust people whose behavior can only be described as abysmal to lead this nation? Why should we vote for BDP in light of this?
Sir, towards the beginning of your tenure, you removed certain fairly seasoned senior civil servants, from key positions using various mechanisms and replaced them with ex-members of the military; did this departure from standard practices garner the desired results; were there tangible and measureable improvements in both productivity and performance in these departments? Who was it whom advised you that former members of the military would be better placed to run these departments? Or was it your own idea? Do you not think that you may have demoralized long-serving and hard-working civil-servants in these departments by your actions and frustrated their dreams of career advancement? And finally Excellency, we ask if it is really necessary to spend millions purchasing ammunition for DIS and jet fighter planes for BDF rather than say investing in surveillance cameras that would not only deter wrongdoing and misconduct but assist the police in solving crime? We are not a normative global or even regional power, so how does your administration’s ad hoc foreign policy help in Botswana’s long/short run development objectives?
Surely foreign policy and diplomacy are instruments to be used judiciously so as to help to better place Botswana regionally and globally? Why does immigration remain so problematic (prone to abuse, timeous and erratic) even after the re-haul of the point system? Does your administration not see foreigners as adding value of any kind? While it’s been thought-provoking and riveting to discover what’s on the minds of the public; this exercise will never be properly concluded until we get His Excellency or his office to provide the much needed answers we’ve all been looking for. So this undertaking I do make to Sunday Standard readership: I shall forward these queries to Office of the President and request the much sought after Presidential interview. Watch this space…
