A fortnight ago, I presented an article entitled “A casual approach to national issues will plunge this country into a crisis.” In that article, I lamented the causal manner in which our political leaders handle important national issues. I gave a few examples of how President Khama and his ministers are taking the whole nation for granted.
This week, I wanted to join the on-going debate on the pros and cons of providing condoms in prisons. My interest in this issue simply emanates from the fact that it is a clear case of ethical dilemmas where the Minister of Health, who is a church minister and medical doctor, Rev. Dr. Seakgosing, supports the provision of condoms while Vice President Merafhe is strongly opposed to it. Ethical dilemmas is one of the topics that we cover in the field of Public Administration with a view to indicating the challenges that public administrators, politicians and ordinary citizens sometimes face when trying to resolve complex issue within the society.
Just when I was about to start writing the article on condoms in prisons, I watched President Khama on BTv announcing that the alcohol levy is going to be increased by 10 percent. His announcement came as a response to the query that was made by one of the village elders at a kgotla meeting somewhere in the Tswapong area. Private newspapers went further to report that the President convened a meeting with some senior public servants and instructed them to start the process of preparing a cabinet memorandum recommending the increase.
We all know that the President first announced the 70 percent alcohol levy at a kgotla meeting in Gabane. After many meetings with different stakeholders, he agreed to set the levy at 30 percent.
He is now proud that the government has made millions of Pula following the introduction of the same. His flawed justification is that he wants to save Batswana from self destruction by making alcohol expensive.
This argument clearly indicates that our beloved President has no idea that there are certain goods whose demand is inelastic. In other words, the quantity demanded or consumed remains more or less the same irrespective of changes in the price. I have no reason not to believe that alcohol is one of the goods whose demand is inelastic. An increase in the price of alcohol will therefore not reduce the quantity demanded or consumed. The fact that government has managed to accumulate over P140 million from the sale of alcohol clearly indicates that the 30 percent levy had very little or no impact on the quantity demanded or consumed.
The Economic Advisors of the President must therefore tell him that he will never win the battle against people who imbibe. Even banning alcohol under the guise of saving Batswana from self-destruction will never assist the President to achieve his unrealistic goal. There are many people out there who still smoke marijuana when they know very well that it is illegal.
People will always drink alcohol no matter how much it costs. Hence, President Khama must simply disabuse himself of the belief that he can stop people from imbibing. All his proposed increases are simply based on his personal dislike for alcohol. There is no scientific evidence that he can produce to convince us that his increases will make it difficult for people to reduce the quantity that they consume or stop drinking completely.
Why is President Khama misusing his energies to fight a battle that he will never win when there are so many problems faced by citizens today? The Botswana Examinations Council and Teachers Unions have reached an impasse over invigilation of final exams. The government wage bill is going to increase by P2 billion at the end of October. People have lost their beloved sons, brothers and uncles at the hands of security agents. Despite the importance of all these things, our President does not think that it is appropriate for him to tell Batswana what is happening. All that he wants is for people to stop drinking alcohol; a goal that he will never achieve more so that even some of the people within his inner circle imbibe like there is no tomorrow!
Another issue that should be of great concern to level headed citizens of this country is the fact that the Khama administration is very much obsessed with security. We were at one stage told that the process of establishing DISS started more than ten year sago. But we now know that the institution was established in such a hurry that funds earmarked for natural disasters were used to finance its activities two years ago. The story surrounding the establishment of the DISS and the manner in which it was funded clearly indicates that we have insincere and dishonest political leaders who can do everything under the sun to get what they want even if it means contravening clearly spelt out financial regulations.
We read in the newspapers that Bank of Botswana is to be relocated so that the current buildings can be used by the Office of the President. That we face security threats as a nation can never be disputed. But do we really need to go to the extent of relocating the central bank? Is it only the safety of the President that matters in this country to such an extent that we can think of spending huge sums of money on the protection of one man? The obsession with security by our political masters will one day land us in a position similar to that of Zimbabwe where President Mugabe cannot quit politics because of the people around him. These are people who can only survive and thrive because Mugabe is still the President.
Think of people like Isaac Kgosi, Shaw Kgathi, Ndelu Seretse and others without President Khama in their lives. Will they still wield the same power and influence as they currently do? I do not think so. Hence, it is of paramount importance that we should be asking ourselves if the national priorities set and pursued by our political masters are right or wrong.
*Dr Mothusi teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
