Some people, more especially politicians, can be cunning liars.
When they want their subjects or constituents to look stupid and remain silent about specific matters that affect them as a specific ethnic group, they beat them into fear by reminding them that much of Africa has been devastated by tribal wars.
They will warn their people that such irrepairable damage was the result of some irresponsible and self-seeking individuals who delight in hostile banter by setting people against each other.
They will advice that the only way to avoid stoking fires of tribal conflicts is to play dead by not complaining about state-sponsored illtreatment, abuse and marginalization. Rubbish!
They will not let people know that in many instances tribal or ethnic conflicts have largely been the result of uneven development that often restricts and distorts growth opportunities among inferior tribes. This paper intends to highlights some of what I consider to be unfair decisions or omissions that disadvantage some ethnic groups.
Anyone who chooses to interpret my argument as useless, counterproductive, intellectual commotion of a reckless demagogue is at liberty to do so.
It is neither my responsibility nor my desire to provide therapy to people who engage in obfuscating mental masturbation. If you get orgasm from such cheap analysis, please enjoy or go hang, After all, ‘it is only a dead man who has everybody on his side’.
I am not sure if the government of Botswana has a comprehensive program for road debushing. However, it is common knowledge that the majority of our roads have overgrown vegetation within the road reserve that more often obstruct the view of motorists.
The need for continuous debushing of our roads is made more critical by the fact that a majority of these roads are infested with livestock and wild animals. Often drivers would not know whether the object by the side of the road is overgrown vegetation or an animal. One just has to pray and may be thank God upon passing the object or apply hard and abrupt brakes every minute.
It is therefore a pity that only certain highways and ‘privileged’ roads are debushed on a continuous basis. Many roads especially those leading to small villages particularly those inhabited by minority ethnic groups are hardly debushed.
Readers, especially those with a penchant for travelling will agree with me that a combination of overgrown vegetation within the road reserve and stray livestock or animals poses one of the biggest challenges of safe driving campaigns.
Most worringly however is the unwillingness by the authorties to have a well thought out program for clearing bush on unfenced roads especially those leading to key service centers.
If highways and ‘privileged’ roads that are fenced and debushed regularly still have to grapple with stray animals, imagine the situation on roads that are neither fenced nor debushed.
They are just a death trap and most of us use them precisely because we don’t have alternative routes.
Like I said, a majority of these roads connect villages inhabited by inferior members of the society otherwise referred to as minor tribes and this raises suspicion that perhaps nobody cares.
For instance, driving from Sefhophe to Bobonong at any time of the day is unbelievably hazardous because one has to contend with cattle, donkeys, goats everywhere and overgrown vegetation that is just on the edge of the road as well as uneven road surface.
The situation is worsened by the fact that the road is punctuated by sharp curves every here and there. Whereas this situation obtains in most parts of the country, it is however more pronounced in areas populated by minority tribes hence my suspicion that government is deliberately short-changing inferior tribes.
Take a drive from Sebina to Tutume or Jwaneng to Tsabong and compare with a drive from Palapye to Serowe for instance.
Some years back the Central District Council had plans to upgrade some internal roads to bitumen standards as well as put up street lights in Bobonong. However, this never was to be. Instead funds that were earmarked for Bobonong projects were diverted to top up funds for the construction of the Serowe mall and related infrastructure. Lately the Bobonong internal roads project was put back into the plan but unfortunately there are no funds.
Ag shame, what an elusive project!
Can you believe them when they say that the global recession meant that this project be put on hold after dillydallying for more than a decade? Well they will tell us that it is all about priorities ÔÇô IMPORTANT THINGS FIRST. A candid explanation from the authorities in respect of this ever elusive project will suffice. We demand it!!
As a result, during the rainy season, most wards in Bobonong are inaccessible and largely cut off from service providers that at the Rural Administration Center or even the hospital.
For instance, for one to reach Borotsi ward from the bus rank during the rainy season, you certainly need to be a genius; yes a graduate of defensive driving. I am yet to know of a case where a project or funds have been redirected from Serowe to some rugged villages within or outside of the central district.
It is abominable even in times of emergencies.
There are similar instances where funds originally earmarked for development in ‘less important areas’ ended up elsewhere or where development projects have been relocated from less privileged regions to ‘more deserving’ areas.
This spectre of uneven development is now reaching alarming levels and the situation cannot be allowed to go on and on simply because people are afraid to question and risk being labelled tribal warlords.
People must talk loudly if they believe they are being short-changed by the government. Our over-indulgence on nation building does not preclude us from raising pertinent issues that affect us as specific ethnic groups nor does it prevent us from making comparisons between tribal villages. We must talk now before the ‘civil war’ erupts.
Recent experience shows that we can no longer take it for granted that the government will always be impartial in dishing out development packages to the people.
There are signs that there is an intensification of the uneveness of development and the marginalization of inferior groups on a large scale – what I prefer to call the ‘the paradox of nation building’, a situation in which emphasis on nation building renders minority tribes idots who can’t see beyond the borders of their desolate, mesirable and windswept villages; Yes the curse of obedience, meekness and submissiveness.
While I have a profound dislike for the Ipelegeng program for exploitating and disempowering underprivileged people, I want to believe that the program could be given a humane face and perhaps become a little worthwhile and relevant if it encompasses bush clearing along our forgotten roads.
Other similar type of work such as clearing culverts to remove debris on our roads could as well give the program some worthy course.
Instead of having people spend weeks sweeping a small stretch of a tarred road in Gaborone, people could be hired to cut overgrown vegetation on the road reserves as a permanent component of the Ipelegeng program. In the longterm, this will contribute towards the improvement and maintenance of our roads which would in turn make them much safer.
It would also imbue the laborers with a sense of dignity since they will get satisfaction from the fact that they are contributing to a worthy course.
However, it is significant that the government and councils develop a comprehensive program for continuous improvement and maintenance of our roads particularly by focusing on debushing and similar type of work irrespective of who these roads serve.
This way, the authorities could be called to account, even by inferor ethnic groups and possibly be sued for loss of life ocassioned by the neglect of our roads.
