NO ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVT

Sir,

I refer to your editorial in the Times SUNDAY of May 7, 2017. I agree with most of the content of your article. The state of this country is indeed becoming very worrying.

There is no accountability in government which is manifested by the poor state of the economy and in particular at the moment the shortage of diesel at depots and the stalling of essential road works.
 Another blatant example of the lack of care and foresight is the current situation of VOCTIM institution. I remember about 30 years ago, the German Government contributed millions to the founding of this excellent facility that was to produce young artisans and craftsmen and women who would get this economy moving.

Look at it now. It has degenerated into a leaky, dilapidated mess where students are treated as if they are in primary school.  Is government not ashamed by allowing this state of affairs to prevail?Maintenance is an essential part of development. You cannot just accept a multimillion contribution from foreign countries and then sit back and expect the place to run on its own without any year on year financing for maintenance and staffing welfare improvement.

 The contrast created by the concentration of scarce funds into few high level and costly projects is surprising and puzzling to say the least in the present context.
You are right to criticise the parliamentarians for having only narrow financial interests with regards to their function in the State mainly because they are not there to see their views on the political economy of the country implemented. Their attempt to have the recent budget changed was slapped down in no uncertain terms by the head of government.

There was no personal satisfaction in seeing their ideas or measures to improve the welfare of their constituencies implemented. SO they turn to terms and conditions to at least ensure that they and their families get something out of this demoralising career. As it has been said before, they are mere rubber stamps.

I take exception to your issue with your dismissal of the interruption in the South African Parliament over the last few years. You describe the actions of the EFF and the DA and other opposition parties as ‘chaos’ and you say it is something you would not want to see being emulated  here in Swaziland. I would want to point out that in a parliamentary democracy, these kinds of scenes are not unknown when one is dealing with stubborn government anywhere in the world and are only expected when dealing with a regime as intransigent and allegedly corrupt as South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma.

They need people to stand up and face down gross waste of taxpayers’ money and the steadfast refusal of the government to admit its faults and change its ways, Very similar, if not exactly the same, scenes like what is happening in South African Parliament are played out in Parliaments of many countries from the UK to Greece, Bulgaria and South Korea and are shown on television from time to time. But the Parliaments are still there; they survive those outbursts and settle down to do the work of legislating.

Swaziland needs the experience of genuinely open discussion and the answering of questions in the debate of issues; it is never all plain sailing, but it is certainly not a chaos or anarchy once the dust settled. There is a falsehood doing the rounds here at eSwatini that democracy equals ‘bad mannered and disgraceful scenes in Parliament and for that reason should not be welcomed or even contemplated. This is a complete misunderstanding of democracy. After all, to make an omelette, you need to break eggs.

Graham Hall
Mbabane

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