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NEW PM WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING UNLESS…

29/10/2018 02:48:00 By Vusi Sibisi

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GIVEN the prevalent hypocrisy of emaSwati that is perhaps mothered by fear in the absence of freedom of expression, coupled to the retributive disposition of the ruling elite, it is impossible to deduce from the quality, or lack thereof, of inputs from those lucky enough to be accorded space to speak at last week’s People’s Parliament at Ludzidzini Royal Cattle Byre if they were all in sync about why the Kingdom of Eswatini finds itself in this precarious socio-economic position.

Yes, the prevailing polity ostracises those in the habit of speaking truth to power in favour of enthroning to favoured positions those peddling falsehoods for as long as they are good music to the ears of those in leadership. A case in point being one elderly Mkhaliphi, who, in the last Sibaya, spoke the uncomfortable truths, has not lived a normal life since then.

Mkhaliphi and his family have been hounded and persecuted by the police and the State even drummed up criminal charges of theft against him. The senior citizen found out the hard way that speaking the truth to power in this country had turned him into an enemy of the State, like most of us, as he was routinely tortured by police, an institution he ordinarily would look up to for protection.

As I see it, Mkhaliphi’s persecution must have sent a chilling warning to ordinary citizens to never dare criticize the leadership or speak truth to power. Consequently, those critical of the way this country is governed either refrain from attending Sibaya or, if not strong-willed and principled, fall into the long line of bootlickers, sycophants and praise singers who are usually at the head of the queue of speakers.

It is from this perspective that one has to take stock of the quality of inputs by individuals during Sibaya knowing that people are not free to speak their mind unless pandering to what is music to the ears of the ruling elite.

The subject matter, for example, was obsolete because the people ventilated on it exhaustively during the previous Sibaya – they wanted to elect their PM, period. But no one was brave to ask for the minutes or why the Constitution was not amended accordingly if Sibaya carries any weight. Yet this fact may just be the key – if not political transformation – to unlocking the potential of this country.

Speakers had to be cautious and skirt around real issues, especially those that may be critical of governance and the decision-making processes. And as I listened from my vintage remote position to what was a choreographed process, I noted the abstractness of presentations with none coming any closer to lancing the boil responsible for thrusting the kingdom to the edge of the economic abyss as crystallised by government’s cash-flow crisis that has become routine, drought of foreign direct investments (FDIs), wide scale unemployment particularly among the youth which include graduates, institutional corruption, etc. You cannot simply sweep the root causes under the carpet because there are no guarantees the rot of abusing public positions for self-enrichment would stop.
The gargantuan Cabinet, for example, for a population of 1.2 million people in a country of 17 364 square kilometers that, from North to South, you can travel in less than a day, at 20 it is way too much. Ethiopia, with a population of 108 million – the second largest in Africa and 12th in the world – measuring 1.3 million square kilometres (that is approximately 75 times larger than Eswatini) has a Cabinet of 20 ministers. That does not require rocket science to figure out that our Cabinet is way too big and disproportionate and ought to be trimmed drastically. But the salient point, as in all other policy decisions, is the basis for some of the most woeful and wasteful government programmes and projects.
In this the age of algorithms and robotics it is mystifying that while emaSwati have their eyes on First World status come 2022 the thinking and behaviour is still Stone Age and not informed by logic and conventional wisdom. That is all thanks to the Byzantine nature of the Tinkhundla political system in which the voices of the nation are meaningless. We ought to stop the culture of treating symptoms instead of the root causes of the challenges facing the country for any positive progression to be made. To do that we have to banish fear whatever the repercussions.
Given the circumstances, newly-installed PM Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini is unlikely to succeed unless the Tinkhundla political system is uprooted and replaced by a system that is not top down but people driven and government a product of and accountable to the people. Otherwise finding solutions to the fiscus and economic crises facing the country do not require a brain storm; cut down Cabinet portfolios by half; cut down the number of or privatise State owned entities except those driving development imperatives; abandon vanity projects; put a moratorium on the further expansion of all the security services; put in place coherent policies on the exploitation of mineral resources to ensure they benefit the people; reengineer budgeting to prioritise agriculture, health, education and the creation of a social network for the vulnerable groups such as the elderly, unemployed youth and the differently abled and, above all, root out institutional corruption.
Alternatively we can continue as we are and, as sure as the sun rises from the east, head to a ruinous sunset. This is the time to stop romanticising issues and take those necessary bold steps to a bright future for the sake of all us inhabitants of this beautiful kingdom being ruined by get-rich selfish machinations.