It was an eventful general election. At times the campaign trail by parties was exciting expedition while other times it was like a lesson in introduction to gutter politics- soiled, foul and wholly dishonest. By and large, people’s reputation and egos have been punctured by the smear campaigns that were intended to discredit competitors; institutions of the state have been defiled by the ruling party managers and functionaries in pursuit of partisan interests.
In the ensuing fierce competition for votes, the nation has been split right down the middle. The elections have essentially set families against each other and it would be disingenuous to assume that the situation would normalize on its own. We have to work for it if we take ourselves seriously and hold dear to the ideal of national cohesion.
Many of us have, in many different ways contributed to this despicable state of affairs where elders and youths exchange insults freely and make trading in blues lies fashionable. It is incumbent upon all of us to work towards ensuring that Botswana society gel together and Batswana feels and pride themselves as legitimate citizens of Botswana. Forget about the obvious talk that the general election was free and fair and the celebratory stunts of some party members, overall, Botswana’s reputation as a democracy anchored on traditional tswanavalues of botho has been harmed and defaced, hence the need for a well thought out action plan for national reconciliation.
Given our precarious situation as a small and fragile economy and unless we reconcile to face our multi challenges as a united front, we risk becoming a forgotten nation, a has-been a beacon of democracy in African. We are treading on thin ice, yet the challenges of unemployment, poverty and the imminent threat of Ebola among others should provide a platform for us to unite for a common cause.
There a dire need for the nation to reunite after a divisive general election if we are to enjoy peace, prosperity, happiness and success. The nation needs to mend broken ties and become one again. While the immediate focus is ordinarily on the election of the new Vice-President and the make-up of the new executive presumably because on the policy front it will be business as usual, The Badge of Courage appeals to the BDP government to make forgiveness and reconciliation one of their immediate projects ÔÇô precisely a performance contract for their first 100 days in office.
It would be foolhardy to ever think of peace, prosperity, happiness, success and fulfilment when the nation is at war with itself. There is anger, resentment, bitterness and suspicion everywhere. Peace and prosperity cannot grow in a hate-based political environment where party members from opposing camps consider themselves sworn enemies; where people are suspicious that opportunities are availed to the ruling party members first while the rest of the citizenry get left-overs or nothing at all. We will never prosper if we continue to mobilize others to boycottsome people’s music and sabotage other people’s businesses simply because they happen to identify with political rivals. On this one, we call upon President Khama to make a bold pledge in his 2014 State of the Nation Address to serve all Batswana fairly and without discrimination based on party politics.
This pledge and its accompanying plan of action will be critical in achieving national reconciliation and transcending the intense political polarization that characterized the 2014 general election. This requires President Khama to provide superior presidential leadership that transcends partisan politics. For this, President Khama will get unparalleled support from all across the party divide and thus become an undisputed statesman of the century. He will rightly become your president, my president, our president, our pride, our unifying force. Anything in the contrary will continue to render him a divisive hate figure of Botswana’s politics.
Human beings are unique among living creatures in our ability to work in cooperation with others beyond our partisan ties. Batswana must prove the dictum to be primary by putting aside their primitive partisan minds to build a better country founded on the cardinal principle of national unity. Constant politicking anchored on systemic insistence on talking past each other; trying to beat each other into submission or worse still, to destroy the other is the antithesis of national unity and is doubtlessly regressive. We must accept that our hate-based, self-serving, dirty and deliberately dishonest campaigns have been hurtful and have left all of us wounded and disoriented.
We need to graduate from the animal kingdom, become mature and responsible and accordingly behave like fully-developed human beings and one way to succeed in this endeavour is to accept our mistakes and vow to right the wrongs. While we will continue to have thugs and imbeciles amongst us, we must recognize that many of them were made by gutter politics and they can be rehabilitated through a deliberate process of national healing for nation building. Party leaders must set the tone so that thugs in their parties are denied the opportunity to cause further havoc. Party leaders have to admit their mistakes, forgive themselves then others and set aside partisan politics in order to lead a crusade to showcase the best about our nation and encourage citizens across the party divide to see each other as legitimate partners in moving Botswana forward.
However, this proposed campaign for national reconciliation does not in any way suggest that we should stop speaking against injustices and mismanagement of public goods. Rather, such objections andremonstrations against misrule, corruption and general lethargy should intensify but should be purpose-based, measured and factual with the sole intention of ensuring compliance and respect for the rule of law.
Partisanship is not a bad thing for it affords citizens to develop competing visions for the country to choose from. What is bad is the chilling hostility towards each other resulting in us fighting each other like male dogs fighting over an indifferent bitch. We cannot afford to be our own worst enemies or terrorists who threaten our very own existence. Bragging rights aside, none of the competing parties could claim to have emerged victorious including the one that eventually formed government on account of its numerical strength.
While we can wish for better representation to enhance accountability and service delivery from a numerically improved opposition, the dangers are still very much alive and are likely to deepen as the BDP fights for survival and or fight to redeem itself. In fact, the opposition’s impressive showing at the 2014 general election might as well make our lives more miserable as the General go for broke to restore his pride by any means. Thus, we cannot prosper from ridiculing and mocking others for their poor showing neither should we get satisfaction from hurtful rhetoric and reckless excitement. Deriving maximum pleasure from dancing on someone’s grave while you are living on borrowed time would be mindless and an extreme case of unproductive expenditure of time.
Overall, we are in big unseen trouble and anyone who propagates injurious stuffthat has the potential to escalate tensions should be ashamed of themselvesand be shamed by society. This is the time for all of us to come together and start building a better Botswana.National reconciliation will allow workers at all levels and in all sectors of the economy to get back to work with renewed commitment to excellence.
Going forward, the civil society, especially religious organizations must play a key role in initiating and coordinating efforts geared towards national healing and reconciliation.The media, celebrities and all other individuals with high levels of integrity should come to the party by aggressively promoting the spirit of oneness.
