Times Of Swaziland: MPS PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH CANNABIS

MPS PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH CANNABIS
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By Vusi Sibisi on 21/06/2020 23:39:00


There is a criminal lack of foresight on the part of lawmakers for delaying the
due processes legitimising the exploitation of cannabis to kick-start the
rebuilding of an economy long ruined by bad governance and presently further
exacerbated by the COVID-19-causing coronavirus that has led to wholesale
shutdown of economies across the globe from which the Kingdom of Eswatini has
also not been spared. But before knuckling down to the cannabis issue that
somewhat has become controversial of late, I will briefly detour to the topic of
our times, the  coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Without being an alarmist, the high numbers of those testing positive for
COVID-19, especially in the past week, is enough to cause panic. Panic because
the ever rising numbers of people testing positive for COVID-19 suggests that
what is abroad now may just be a tip of an iceberg considering that testing thus
far is selective.
Positive
As I see it, the sum total of those testing positive for COVID-19 in the past
week alone suggests that the pandemic has a foothold and poses a real time
threat to the nation. Indeed we ought to be worried because this speaks to
inherent weaknesses in leadership and people’s inability to adapt to and
follow the immediate prevention interventions such as wearing of face masks in
public spaces, social distancing, regular hand washing hygiene regime and, where
possible, staying at home and keeping away from crowded places.
While expectations were that the most vulnerable and likely to be victims of the
pandemic would be the elderly above 60 years old, it seems the most affected now
are between 30 and 39 years old – the economically active falling within the
youth age bracket and, therefore, the future. If anything, this nation cannot
afford mass fatalities given the small size of the population and the
concomitant challenges this would bequeath to those lucky enough to survive the
pandemic. At this rate it would not be far-fetched to expect the worst if there
is no paradigm shift, albeit it may already be too late, in the way the country
has confronted the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pandemic
As I see it, the incapacity of government to mount full scale mass testing given
the high numbers of those testing positive for COVID-19 is feeding to the
anxiety of how far the pandemic has imbedded itself before translating into dead
bodies. Typically, it is like walking in the dark without any clue of what is
lurking out there thus making the future uncertain.
Manifestly, government has failed or refused to throw the full might of its
resources at countering the COVID-19-causing  coronavirus since it declared a
partial lockdown and opted, as usual, to leave this to donors.Back to the issue
of cannabis that our legislators seem to be treating like a game of ping-pong
when the herb could be catalytic to resuscitating a crippled economy. It would
appear the honourable ones who are handsomely rewarded by the taxpayer and,
therefore, insulated from poverty are only too happy to take the country back to
the days when there was ‘no hurry in Eswatini’.
Yet other nations, especially from within the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) led by none other than Lesotho, with good and decisive
leadership, did not have the luxury to procrastinate but took the huge quantum
leap forward and quickly formulated the requisite legislative framework to
exploit the economic value of cannabis as catalytic to the development of their
economies. This has placed these countries on a strategic and competitive
pedestal in terms of market share and domination while Eswatini remains
undecided on whether or not to reinvent the wheel.
Now we have been told the matter of decriminalising cannabis has been parked for
six months, and possibly longer, to allow for consultations. What consultations
exactly when the last Parliament constituted a committee to go around the globe
to gather best practices for domestic adaptation to legitimise cannabis, one may
ask. Could it be that exercise was a waste of scarce resources because, I am
sure, that committee compiled a report that should have been instructive in
moving the matter and the country forward?
There ought to be no question about farming licencing being exclusively a
preserve for indigenous farmers. In this scheme of things, external investors
should only be allowed to contest the processing and possibly research spaces
but not participate in farming. Put differently, the two industries, farming and
processing and research should be distinct from each other, unlike in the sugar
value chain where producers/manufacturers are also the primary source of the
sugar cane.
As it were, this is the perfect window to reconstruct the economy of the kingdom
and to directly empower emaSwati to give meaning to independence.
Additionally, if there was a need to reinvent the wheel – mindset that
Eswatini would be the first country in the world to decriminalise cannabis -
instead of adapting best practices from elsewhere and tweaking these with a
domestic flavouring, lawmakers should have rather used the old colonial law to
create a transitional vehicle legitimising cannabis for other uses than
recreational with a sunset clause once the substantive law once it is finalised.
This transitional vehicle would enable for the creation of an authority to
regulate the industry, in the meantime, as envisaged by the old colonial law.
This would bring to an end the continued persecution and prosecution of dagga
farmers, not to speak of the periodic destruction of millions of Emalangeni
worth of dagga by the police while the economy is bleeding.