CANNABIS A PANACEA FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

IN last week’s column I bemoaned, among others, the apparent vacuum created by the absence or lack of visibility of thought leaders from the nation’s political, socio-economic, religious and other spaces.

This was in relation to the absence of thought leadership specifically from public life, especially when it came to engineering a multi-faceted developmental trajectory of the Kingdom of eSwatini. But owing to the obtaining political system and absence of a social charter, this has led to the exclusion of some people whose only sin is having divergent views and beliefs, especially on political matters, to those held by the leadership.

The subject matter of thought leadership and leaders has been triggered by the deafening silence or ill-informed views and poorly argued positions when issues of national importance that impact on the people are on the agenda. Invariably it is the elite minority that ends up making decisions, a lot of them irrational and catastrophic, on behalf of us all. Two such issues that are abroad today include the debate over legalising cannabis/hemp/dagga as well as the banning of religious education from being taught in public schools in favour of Christianity.

While wondering aloud in that column about the absence or silence of thought leaders and the dangers of leaving the onerous task of decision making to an average minority – a fact that is quantifiable by the many irrational policy and political decisions we have been burdened with over time – the truth was right in front of me. The historical truth is the state had, through the King’s Proclamation to the Nation of April 12, 1973 and, by force of arms, usurped the individual and collective intellect of the people that form the well from which thought leaders are nurtured. 

Not only were the people silenced and their God-given human rights taken from them but in one fell swoop they were also reduced to the currently obtaining status of infancy wherein everything and all things were and are done for and on their behalf. Thus the people were deprived the role of being active citizens, the catalyst that should influence the country’s developmental agenda on all fronts and, therefore, their destiny by being reduced to mere subjects.

Regrettably, we all have to live in the knowledge and the possibility that the kingdom’s potential has been compromised by the exclusion of gifted sons and daughters of the soil in favour of grovellers, bootlickers and praise singers who could have better served the people and the country and be in the forefront of thought leadership.

The result of this is the sub-culture of deifying individuals and personality cults that have entrenched themselves in the Swazi polity. None of the opponents of legalising farming and dealing in hemp/cannabis/dagga have said anything about tobacco and alcohol simply because these had been legalised by former colonial masters and, therefore, are acceptable poisons. Neither have they provided us with comparative studies proving that the herb is more destructive than tobacco and alcohol.

Additionally, Scotland is not a nation of drunkards just because that country is the world’s leading producer of whiskey.  Having ventilated on the possible cause of the dearth in thought leadership, I should salute the ad hoc parliamentary committee led by Hhukwini Member of Parliament Saladin Magagula charged with the task of investigating the possibility of licencing the farming of and dealing in cannabis/hemp for medicinal and industrial purposes for coming out to clear the air. A lot of people, which unfortunately may include those charged with pioneering laws, policies, etc., have not liberated themselves from acquired colonial mentality by making this all about legalising of marijuana for recreational purposes when this is further from the truth.  

 
As I see it, it may not even be necessary to enact another law – notwithstanding the imperative of legal reforms particularly in relation to colonial pieces of legislation that essentially sought to put the natives in their place – to open up farming and trading in hemp/cannabis. The existing law being used to prosecute illegal possession and dealing in dagga seems to be sufficient and in tandem with similar laws, such as The Arms and Ammunition Proclamation 24/1964 regulating ownership of firearms.

It is common cause that legal ownership of a firearm entails applying for licence/permit from the relevant body created for this specific purpose whereas possession of a firearm without a licence/permit is illegal and, therefore, a criminal offence.  There already are well established markets across the globe that would absorb the local produce and by so doing earn this country billions of Emalangeni far more than sugar – another poison responsible for some of the worst diseases opponents of the legalisation of the herb are silent about - is currently pumping into the economy.

That of course is premised on the assumption of a reluctance to use our new Royal Science and Technology Park to create our own pharmaceutical, textile and leisure products industries from cannabis. As I see it, accelerated economic development of the Kingdom of eSwatini and elimination of poverty and other socio-economic ills is being stifled by people with outdated views who should be speedily evacuated from the nation’s public spaces. Cannabis is the key to the achievement Vision 2022!
   

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