It is common knowledge that in the case of Botswana and Africa in general, governments want to do way too many things for voters. In their political stump speeches for example, they literally promise us heaven on earth. They are desperate to say anything and everything for the sake of getting either elected or reelected into public office. As a result of being all over the place and not focusing on a few, manageable and dare I say, viable priorities, our political class invariably achieves very little in the end.
If I were to restrict myself to Botswana as an example of a country that I know relatively well because it happens to be not only my place of birth but where I have lived all my life, I realise that one of the critical areas in which we do not do well is to keep ordinary people safe, so that they can go about their lives freely. This issue of safety, hits home every time I travel to other countries especially developed ones. And this week I happen to be writing this column somewhere in Europe.
While Europe is busy dangerously turning its back against the traditional values which laid the foundations for its prosperity in pursuit of amorphous concepts of multiculturalism and diversity , the sense of personal safety you feel in the streets as an ordinary person is still reassuring. This is so because the security forces especially the police maintain a good profile in public places. As a result, people including the elderly are able to go about their lives in state of relative safety.
This high visibility is in sharp contrast to the Botswana situation whereby a sudden surge of the police on our streets is a sign that a very important person is in the vicinity and nothing more. If they are not busy providing cover for VIPs, then they are either in their offices burrowed in paper work such as certifying “’documents” or manning roads in search of motorists to fine. It is as if the biggest crime in their book is traffic offences. By so saying, I should not be misconstrued to be asking the police to turn a blind eye to traffic offenders. All I am rather saying is that traffic offences cannot be the only things that give the police sleepless nights.
The other thing that Europe does well , is to pay attention to the maintenance of public facilities including roads, schools, street lights, office and commercial buildings and churches to mention but a few. The link between a rich maintenance culture and crime may not be immediately self-evident but you get less crime in areas which are well maintained than in derelict ones. Broken windows which go unattended for ages, invite criminals to break even more.
It is becoming apparent every passing day that we on the other hand, are doing an awful job of maintaining our infrastructure. Street lights in the nations for example, capital do not work and many public schools are in a state of disrepair. It has almost become a norm to have streetlights which do not work. However, we have it in us to change the situation for the better.
We could decide to dedicate our next national budget to maintenance and forego new building projects. That shift in public spending could see us repair street lights, patch up roads and public schools. It would also see us allocate additional funding to the police to help them deal with whatever constraints they have in patrolling our streets.
Once our security is enhanced, we would just like people in advanced economies, also be in position to go about our business with relative ease and not worry about the danger of someone smashing your car to steal a phone or handbag. We have let this situation to go on for far too long about a basic task that people really expect the state to do not only competently but as a matter of priority too.
