At a time when the whole world is moving towards cleaning up the environment and indeed reducing the levels of pollution, Botswana seems to be going exactly in the opposite direction.
One does not have to look beyond the state of filth in the City of Gaborone to be astonished by what little is being done to take care of our environment.
There is dirt everywhere.
And this time around it has little to do with the public throwing trash all over the place than about the local authority collecting trash on time before it spills all over the place.
In some parts of Gaborone, the City Council has gone for months without collecting garbage from some neighbourhoods.
Authorities like to use the refrain of resources as an excuse.
But what is happening today is scandalous and is thus unpardonable.
There is simply no excuse for it.
And this is a City Council that receives money in levies and rates from the dwellers.
Defendants of the City Council like to say that the Central Government, which finances Gaborone City Council is deliberately using money as a political tool so that the people might revolt against the City Council.
This argument goes that the Central Government is controlled by the ruling party while the City Council is controlled by the opposition.
We do not buy into this argument.
We are worried that there seems to be no political leadership at Council level.
And this has got nothing to do with any party because the Hall has Councilors from across the spectrum. And when it comes to service delivery, it cannot be about political parties.
There is no need to emphasise the importance of cleanliness in the streets of Gaborone.
The importance of Gaborone as a microcosm for all that Botswana is or should be, can also not be emphasized strong enough.
Gaborone has become a cesspool of filth. The air is thick with stench coming from a sewerage system that is badly maintained.
What is curious is the fact that less two years ago Government completed upgrading of this city-wide sewerage system at a cost no less than P1 billion.
The upgrade included connecting Old Naledi and many of the SHHA areas to the system with the intention of phasing out pit latrines in these areas.
Yet there is not a day that passes without the sewerage system overflowing in one area or another ÔÇô defeating exactly the same ideals for which such great amounts were expended.
We call on the Gaborone City Council to get its act together to reduce the amount of trash flying all over the city.
We call on the Ministry of Local Government to release funds to the Council so that more trucks could be purchased.
This is more important than ever before because the dumping side is quite a distance from the City, thus reducing the regularity and frequency with which the fleet can commute between city and dumping site.
The solution thus rests with growing the fleet.
Last but not least, we call for political will on the part of the city councilors.
Partisan divisions cannot be a solution.
The loser is the ordinary citizen and the country.
It must be emphasised that stifling the City Council of money on account of the fact that its opposition dominated cannot be a way to attract sympathy for the ruling party.
If anything it hardens public attitudes against the ruling party and its government.
