As tradition dictates, I found it prudent to begin this instalment by wishing readers a happy and prosperous 2015. As a nation, we cannot deny the challenges that surfaced in the previous year. In fact, there was very little to celebrate about 2014. It was a defining moment in our history as a people, in which doubt started to develop about the way we conducted ourselves as a people, both in private and the public sphere. The hope is that the New Year will bring a much needed moment for reflection on the part of all citizens and our leaders, and start on a new journey towards a united and proud nation we come to be known for.
In this instalment, I reflect of key issues that I think will be of major value towards a new future for this country. Before I dwell on the subject matter for today, I also find it useful to comment on the passing of rre Mompati Merafhe. The General, as he was affectionately known by many across the width and breath of this country, proved to be a man of substance ÔÇô at least in the execution of public duty. His rise from the bottom to the apex of this nation’s security sector captured well the kind of person he was: brave, focused and a patriotic individual. He too was human with his faults, but there was nowhere he applied himself diligently than at the foreign affairs desk. Amongst his peers in the region and beyond, Merafhe was a standard bearer in matters of international relations.
He managed to stay true to this nation’s guiding principles of democracy and therisanyo among others, when addressing complex regional issues as was the case when dealing with the Lesotho political crisis of the 1990s. He was indeed a true ambassador for this nation. May his soul rest in peace.
As I indicated in the introductory part of this instalment, Botswana is a country in need of a miracle. We have lost, almost overnight, the sparkle that used to define us. The pride that we displayed in the 1990s is history. A friend of mine, whom I have not seen in a couple of years, shared his fears with me about this country going forward when we finally met over the festive holidays. He left the country in the late 1990s for further studies abroad but decided to stay there upon completion.
What he remembers most about Botswana before his departure in the 1990s was the major successes ÔÇô economic, social and political that made this place an envy of many others in the continent and beyond. The economy was doing well. Yes, we had diamonds but you could tell that much could be achieved in other sectors of the economy. Tolerance in the political arena was a lived experience for many of our people. Elsewhere beyond the economic growth and political maturity, living standards were improving. Investment in education was a priority. So, too, was improvement of human health evidenced by major infrastructural development of hospitals and clinic across the country. That period, so says my friend represented the golden period for our country.
The recent trajectory of our development, however, holds true to the maxim – success contains the seeds of its own destruction. Indeed, our relative success has only managed to breed complacency. In my friend’s view, there is nowhere this tendency been more visible than at the top of this country’s political leadership. He kept on reminding me that the success of the 1990s was built upon a visionary leadership. Bureaucratic leadership emphasised the need for professionalism in the public sector, while political leadership allowed it to manage, to the best of their abilities, public offices. Consequently, we had the most effective public sector to drive development agenda of the political leadership. Corruption, a cancer that has delayed meaningful progress in many other African countries, was minimal. And the private sector was touted as the next engine of growth for the economy. Better policy choices best captured the mood over this period according to my friend.
Fast forward to where we are now. Strange enough for a nation not at war we are a nation in stress. To put it kindly, we are a people at war with themselves: we are our own enemies. The recent past best captures the rapture in our DNA. Major fault lines have developed in a short period of time and, in the process, threatening the very success we have come to enjoy as a nation. Take, for example, the neglect brought upon our education system evidenced by dilapidated infrastructure in many government owned schools. The academic results have never been so horrible, especially over the past several years. Failure has become a normal anomaly for many of our students. Major investments are undertaken in meaningless projects by those in charge of the republic. For instance, a railway line to the west into Namibia with a cost of over 100 billion Pula is being proposed. The intention, from media reports, is to transport coal to China although logic suggest it would be much cheaper to go east through Mozambique! Talk of poor policy choices.
Where did we go wrong? I don’t have the answers but I feel we as a nation have lost the opportunity that followed the success of the 1990s. The current leadership in charge of the republic has lost the drive displayed by their predecessors of yesteryear. We need, among others, new ideas that will be translated into reality by new people. A leadership with capacity to developed better policy choices for the benefit of all. This is all Botswana needs to regain its past glory going forward!
