Valentine’s Day feel last week. And in light of that development I thought it wise to reflect on the subject before I dwell on the more substantive issues for this instalment. I just need to be honest from the onset; I only came to know about the eminent Valentine’s Day a day before it was celebrated from a very close friend of mine. Strangely enough, this is the last person you would expect to learn or hear anything love related from. To be frank, he is just way too removed from this side of the emotional world. He seems not bothered at all about this day.
To be precise, my friend gives the Valentine’s Day the middle finger. In his words, ‘Valentine’s is a day for those uncaring souls like you.’ I never got to understand why he adopted such a suicide bomber attitude towards a great day like this one. Yes, Valentine’s Day is celebrated across my countries each year, hence, bringing together millions of people closer to one another ÔÇô I mean ‘lovewise’. It is one day where lovers get an opportunity to buy their partners gifts to show appreciation for having them. Not only that, it is during this time that couples get a chance to go out and have a meal in one of the expensive restaurants around town. And at the end of the day, the love birds retire to a good sleep at one of the posh hotels somewhere in the city. In short, it is one of those days where we leave the stresses of life and concentrate only on the brighter side of the moon.
But my friend’ commends left me wondering why he would have such low regard for a celebration of love that is enjoyed so much by humanity across the globe every year. However, I did come to know the source of his disdain for this day. He came across the following message addressed to us a few days before the V-day from an equally sceptical friend of ours painting a grim picture about the day and everything related to it. The result of that massage has been devastating to my friend to say the least. It read:
“Enjoy the rest of Valentine’s!
Lest we forget a seminal inventory of received wisdom: Our sincere Darwinian condolences go out to all the poor flowering plants who have had their genitals plucked off prematurely just to punctuate the selfish sexual interests of some humans!
Now, just imagine if the plants could return the compliment…! Ishiii..! So, next time think twice when someone adorns you with some flower!
The biological gods must be really crazy!!”┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á
Who wouldn’t be negatively affected by such disheartening sentiments? Thus, I understand why my friend opted out of the much celebrated capitalist invention called Valentine’s Day. But as for me, I decided to enjoy the day for the very last time. While enjoying my last moments I kept thinking that hopefully the rest of humanity will soon follow suit and condemn Valentine’s Day to the dustbins of history.
Enough with the softer side of life! This is an uncaring world after all. So why waste time on an issue that does not carry much implication for us as Batswana whether we participate in it or not?
In this installment I consider two unrelated articles that almost talked to the same problem we face as a nation. The first one is penned by Kenneth Dipholo entitled ‘Can you trust these people’ in his column Badge of Courage. The second article is written by Spencer Mogapi under the heading ‘Allowing cabinet to investigate itself is akin to allowing a fox to guard chickens’ that appeared in his column The Watchdog. Both articles appeared on Sunday Standard newspaper of 17th to 23rd February 2013.
Ken, in his usual elements, sadly talks of our political leadership as wanting in certain key dimensions of the trade; they lack integrity! They find nothing wrong with peddling untruths. This is not just a problem confined to one party in parliament. Rather, it is a pervasive problem that cut across the divide with both the ruling and opposition MPs engaged in day light misinformation of the citizens. He dwells on numerous examples where our political leadership has failed us as Batswana. For instance, he talks about the minister of education, Mma Venson-Moitoi, who kept assuring the nation that things were in order as far as student examinations were concerned. The reality on the ground, however, pointed in the other direction. To him the public interest is no longer the guiding principle for our leadership. Everyone is in it for themselves and, in the process; the citizens are left with nothing except kids who have no future.
Spencer’s article talks of an admission on the part of those in charge of our republic that things are not going according to plan. However, instead of being frank and let the public know the extent of the rot, ours is a leadership hell-bent on deceiving Batswana into believing that something concrete is being done to fix ailing institutions. He mentions, for example, numerous public enterprises which have lately been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Surprisingly for him, in trying to fix the anomalies that have kept our institutions weak, the political leadership find within itself individuals who are supposed to identify the root problems that have brought this challenges in the first place.
Both these articles bring to the fore the pertinent issue why leaders also find it easier to institute changes/reforms as one way of fixing cases mismanagement and maladministration that affect our corporations. In short, the changes were never meant to bring any improvement to failing institutions; rather, they serve to legitimise the regime in the public eyes. Put differently, such efforts create an impression that those in power do care and are determined to address problems afflicting BMC, BDC or any other similar institution currently bedeviled by numerous ills.
While enjoying Valentine let’s not lose sight of the need to seek accountability and responsibility on those in charge of our beloved republic. Failure to do so will definitely render us relics from the past with a bleak future ahead of us.
