A simple definition of politics is that it is a process through which decisions are made to realize the common good. By implication, politics is the sphere for making decisions that are intended to create a better society than that already exists. In this respect, politics is the most important human activity in any society. Actually everything we do is politics. Whatever position one takes, that is basically a political decision because politics concerns everything in life. Politics concerns whether you get a decent education for a good job or you are confined to feeding snakes; it concerns whether you get equal opportunities with your countrymen or you get resigned to being a lice-infested praise singer; it concerns whether your girl child would become a respectable citizen or a distinguished pantypreneur.
Aristotle reminds us that anyone who thinks they are not affected by politics should be considered either a God or a beast. Thus, if anyone of us is not interested in politics as many always say, and yet they are not God, it means they are beast whether they like it or not. Nevertheless, such persons can still redeem themselves by partaking in politics in order to make our evil rulers account. Essentially politics is central to our everyday lives in so far as it involves deciding the affairs of citizens and thus, it cannot be avoided lest we get ruled by greedy scoundrels.
However, politics has been given such a bad name that it cannot no longer be recognized as a noble business. While it has long been corrupted by yesteryear murderous regimes and incorrigible racketeers, Botswana’s current crop of greedy government ministers are not only cementing the negativity attached to politics but makes it a sure template for systemic theft of public assets. They have turned it into an enterprise for manipulating one’s way into positions of power for personal gain. To put it mildly, politics in Botswana has become the embodiment of dishonesty, thievery and plunder by government ministers hence the Executive is full of prod thieves. In effect, Botswana’s politics has suffered the contempt of many in recent years especially for being an attraction for those who wish to get rich instantly though fully aware that they have not the means to get rich in an honest world.
In Botswana, Cabinet ministers are appointed by the state president with each given a specific area of government policy to oversee. They are expected and do take an oath of office by swearing to make and implement decisions that are intended to benefit society, especially in terms of rendering government services to the people. Mahatma Gandhi contended that ‘the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others’. However, it has come to the fore Botswana Cabinet Ministers have no greater purpose for seeking public office than to help themselves to the public kitty which invariably violates their oath of office.
MPs consistently decry low salaries not only for themselves but also for members of the Executive. Indeed many politicians are poor before they were given cabinet positions and as soon as they are sworn in to resume their ministerial duties, many of them gain some kind of feedlot-induced weight, thus turning the Executive into a fattening facility. Even the naturally skinny built type suddenly develops belly-like cheeks symptomatic of a rapid and accidental rise from poverty to affluence. This will then be followed by obscene flaunting of wealth in spite of the public knowledge that cabinet ministers do not really enjoy the best of pay cheques. The irony of it all being that every time cabinet ministers’ wealth inexplicably shoots up, the ordinary citizen’s quality of life drastically drops suggesting pre-mediated looting of public assets and thieving on a grand scale by Cabinet ministers in ways that deny citizens a decent life.
When in the past many of our cabinet ministers retired to a life of poverty, today’s government ministers retire to a life of luxury. Today’s rulers leave office so rich that they might be mistaken for mining magnates or stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Interestingly, the differences are not a result of significantly improved conditions of service but rather are all down to criminal tendencies on the part of present-day flat-capped honourable members of the Executive arm of government.
The sad reality is that these delinquent ministers are the lowest race of thieves in modern day Botswana. Our Cabinet ministers are a model of a government minister as a venerated thief who have turned government into a virgin land of unlimited opportunities for illicit self-enrichment. Indeed our country is in trouble and risk being run down by bandits who control and bully the very state institutions that should be sniffing at their ill-gotten riches. This explains why, in spite of overwhelming circumstantial evidence of raiding the public treasury, the wicked rulers always go scot free cleared every time they are charged for corruption. It is said that criminals always have a way to make things go their way.
The media cannot flagrantly manufacture crime against our honourable leaders who are in fact our countrymen, boyhood friends, and relatives. The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) cannot just randomly and carelessly snoop on such important personalities unless there is smog coming from the ministers’ residences. In a normal compassionate society, it is unimaginable that citizens would derive joy from the pain of their leaders unless the rulers annoyingly flaunt their loot and spit at those who struggle to make ends meet by honest means. However, when that time comes, when citizens start to celebrate the suffering and humiliation of their countrymen particularly their leaders, all sense of responsibility towards one’s nation is lost and all citizens from all persuasions will metamorphose into savages and glorified bastards.
Like other African countries that have been looted on a grand scale by their so-called leaders, Botswana is in deep trouble. Everyday talk radio, newspapers and social media is full of stories about thieving government ministers and a state president doing the opposite of his oath of office. The level of intolerance and political mischief by those tasked to manage and protect public resources has reached unimaginable proportions. Like male teenagers who fantasize about bonking all glamorous and gorgeous actresses, our rulers are obsessed with a dangerous desire to accumulate silly amounts of wealth that they do not really need.
As a result, in this government we have observed the longest fall in living standards for Batswana, especially the working class. This depreciation of the quality of life of the majority corresponds with rising wealth for the few mainly through habitual stealing that is somewhat justified by the blunt catchphrase, IT IS OUR TIME TO EAT, originated by a senior ruling party official who slipped his tongue.
O Lord, Most High God, Lord of free men’s souls, come to our aid. You have been a refuge for the needy in his distress (Isaiah 25:4). Shame and disgrace all those who rage against us (Isaiah 41:11). To the Lord we cry aloud and He answers us from His holy hill (Psalm 3:4). Save us from these step-sons and daughters of Satan and give them the most severe punishment for violating an oath they took before You!
Amen!
