The recent revelations of grand corruption, especially the looting of National Petroleum Fund (NPF) by senior politicians and business leaders demonstrate why as a people we have been stuck in the so called middle income trap, and, in turn, our fortunes appears to be reversing drastically. Sadly, no one seems to treat this development as a national crisis. Instead what we see emerging is an effort to kill any initiative to bring the matter to rest. The intention of this piece is to reflect on the dramatic increase in acts of poor governance, which provides fertile ground to unscrupulous characters to engage in corruption and mismanagement of our resources, and the paralysis that characterise all institutions which were meant to fight this scourge. I write with a broken heart knowing well that corruption denies majority of our people opportunity to drink clean water, to have their kids afforded decent education and health services, and deny many a meal for a day. I am also aware that the same corruption creates opportunity for future instability. The saddest part is that, as a people, we are at a point where no one seems to care about the current reality, except very few amongst us. It gets even worse when those that we sent to represent us in parliament prefer the see no evil approach ÔÇô perhaps because they, too, are beneficiaries of this scourge.
Just a brief reminder to those who were not there at the beginning. As a country we started from zero ÔÇô I mean nothing. The 80 years or so of British control was of no material value to us such that when we gained self-rule we inherited very little from the departing colonialists. No infrastructural developments in the form of roads, schools or dams, very negligible where there was something. It was even worse on the socio-economic front ÔÇô where few of our people had tertiary education, with majority of active labour force working in South African mines. And, unsurprisingly, we ranked among the poorest of places on earth. But, ironically, we were a very happy lot ÔÇô principled and dependable! Perhaps because the British, through their indirect rule approach, left our traditional governance structures intact. The new generation, understandably so, hardly appreciate the significance of our traditional institutions towards embedding good governance and democratic culture in our society. This to me, should be a lasting legacy for which we have to celebrate our former colonialists.
With the colonialist gone the independence leadership, given the context under which self-rule was granted, would prioritise national economic development as a platform through which socio-economic and political gains would be realised. A robust framework for development and sound institutional structures were put in place, under the supervision of the office of the vice president. Luck would stuck shortly after independence with the discovery of mineral deposits. We become the fastest growing economy until the late 1990s and managed to transform this place into a successful case of economic development. Through fiscal discipline and sound management we were elevated from poor to upper middle income country over this period. Our country attracted positive review for good governance, illustrated by low corruption and mismanagement, among many other indicators. Although this was a golden age for our country there were still challenges such as weak civil society, dominance of the ruling party in the face of fragmented opposition to mention but a few. The massage, in short, was that unlike elsewhere in the continent, we were fortunate enough to have a different kind of political leadership that placed interests of the majority over their sectarian ones. Rre Masire, for example, as a farmer his administration would initiate agricultural policies for the benefit of all. If the intention was to self-benefit, they would do so through an all-inclusive policy where everyone benefited. That was then.
Then came the vultures. The recent developments suggests its one man for himself and, probably, his family. The genesis of this value system can be traced to the late 2000s, when, against tradition, old structures of good governance were dismantled and replaced with new ones that undermined accountability, transparency and other key governance protocols/procedures. The new environment obviously provided fertile ground for corruption to manifest, especially grand theft. In the public service, for instance, civil servants are now allowed to engage in private business ÔÇô they can now do business with themselves. Any rational person would place more effort where he will make more returns and the consequences are too obvious for all to see ÔÇô poor service across ministries and departments and growing incidences of corruption, for example. Now that everyone has his hands dripping with blood because of corruption, the backbone or last line of defence of governance in our economy has been compromised. With the collapse of professionalism within the civil service our options are limited in terms of seeking redress to the rising tide of graft, especially white collar one. Civil society is non-existent. The private sector, too, is dominated by grand theft, such that even our pension are no longer safe. The opposition is a mess in itself. We are just in deep trouble.
In all this messy situation there has been a flicker of hope. Last week on the floor of parliament, Rre Gaolathe brought to debate a motion seeking commission of inquiry into the NPF mess. Yes, he was well aware of other efforts including litigation to bring the matter to finality. What surprised everyone was the loud voice against the motion coming from none other than the official leader of opposition in parliament, to supplement, obvious objection to the same by the BDP MPs. The reasoning on the part of the LOO was that a different approach away from one where the president is asked to investigate himself would be better. That alternative, however, was never presented. All that we know is that in public rallies the LOO has made it known that he has assembled a team of legal experts, led by Advocate Pilane, to litigate on this matter. The less said the better.
To get out of the current paralysis would take greater effort on the part of all. In the meantime, a multipronged strategy of mass demonstrations, commission of inquiries, court cases and use of parliament is likely to put pressure on the current leadership to do something about corruption. Failure to act is not an option. Let’s see what the new emperor would do come April fools day!
*Dr Molefhe teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
