In less than two weeks, Vision 2016 will officially come to an end.
The Vision will come to an end in very much the same way that it started ÔÇô a disorganized mess.
Given reality on the ground there can be no doubt that with time, Vision 2016 will become a prized model of failed idealism.
There is a lot for us to learn from the failures of Vision 2016.
The tragedy though is that we are not as a nation eager to learn from those failures.
Instead we are hastily running headway into yet another similar myth.
Indications are that with the end of Vision 2016, there will come into place yet another fanciful dream ÔÇô Vision 2036.
For now the nation awaits the publishing of a report on Vision 2036 recently handed to the Head of State.
But there will be fewer buyers. We have been sold a dummy before. And the experience has been emotionally harrowing.
Going through the pages of Vision 2016 ÔÇô less than two weeks before it comes to a sorrow end, one revels in the consolation of getting a glimpse of how it is to live in a dreamland that all of a sudden proves empty.
The feeling is a bad one.
It’s like abruptly waking up only to find oneself naked in public.
Of course the dream was good when it lasted.
But it has come to an end.
As it is, it does not look like Batswana will be buying another one.
After the catastrophe that has been Vision 2016, immediately coming up with another one smacks of playing jokes with human tragedy.
To deny the meaninglessness of Vision 2036 is to deny the tragedy that has been Vision 2016.
At inception, Vision 2016 was enacted and sold as the future that we all wanted but did not know how to get.
With a little less than two weeks to go in its life span, we now know how that future looks like ÔÇô pretty much.
The picture emerging is not an inspiring one.
Based on the picture of a future coming out as a result of Vision 2016, the legendary William Shakespeare would have surely come up with an immensely captivating play.
The trouble, for Batswana is that like so many of Shakespeare’s plays theirs too would end up in tragedy.
Yet we are being asked to accept that with the closure of the Vision 2016 tragedy, we should look ahead with glee the opening of yet another one, Vision 2036.
This lack of realism among our public policy machinery ranks high among the many disconcerting characteristics of our government.
Regarding these manmade dreams, the challenges for the next generation of leaders are clear. Batswana no longer have faith much less appetite in utopia.
In an eerie way these Visions have a subtle impact of persuading Batswana that they need not need worry about their current difficulties because their kingdom is in heaven.
Having seen through the empty promises of Vision 2016, Batswana are unlikely to buy into Vision 2036.
Starting sometime around 2008, Botswana’s long running streak of good fortune came to an end.
To stem the tide we need much more imaginative leadership than creating visions that smack of snake oil salesmanship.
Officially unemployment is as high as 22 percent.
In reality given the lack of integrity on our statistical collection regiment it could be anywhere between 35 and 40 percent.
Rapid economic meltdown born of low diamond sales since 2008 ÔÇô made worse by growing operational costs of getting those diamonds out from the ground has conspired to make life unbearable for a majority of our people.
The situation is not helped by growing institutionalized corruption.
Economic diversification, for many years a source of hope for those looking up for a better life has become just another one of the many dreams.
To say Botswana will one day not be reliant on diamonds as ministers used to say would today feel like a bad joke.
These are economic realities in which we live today.
And the visions from hell that are forever being rammed down our throats do nothing to resolve these painful economic hard truths.
These visions are nothing more than a way by our leaders to legitimise and validate themselves by creating an impression that they care about the nation’s plight and that they are doing something about it.
Because this gives the nation a false sense of hope in a future that cannot be realistically proven, it is thus demonstrable that in all measure it really is con-artistry.
Can we as a country achieve much if we have idealistic futures premised on untruths and disinformation?
We have less than two weeks to find out.
