TIME FOR BELT-TIGHTENING

Sir,

“We got to make a change...it’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes. Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live and let’s change the way we treat each other” Tupac in Changes. I’m not a big Hip-Hop fan, but I loved these lyrics the first time I heard them over 10 years ago. That’s what we need in this country right now. Given the soaring prices of almost everything, from bread to fuel, stagnant salaries and the general high cost of living, this is a time to make sacrifices as far as spending is concerned.

Consume

The basic problem in Eswatini is that we are broke, we consume more than we produce. It’s ironic that for a country which swears by the Bible, we failed to learn the first lesson on fiscal policy in the Bible, the story of Joseph in Egypt (i.e in good times prepare for the bad times) But coming back to the changes which are needed, we have to change the way treat each other. There is a terrible culture in Eswatini where each person thinks for themselves. We have to adopt a situation where everyone thinks for the good of society. Game theory would tell us that if each individual seeks the option best for them society would be worse off. The best outcome comes when everyone does what’s best for society. Otherwise we will keep on digging ourselves into a bigger hole. Economic history would tell us that it’s not how much you have, but it comes down to spending less than you earn.

Defaulted

Spain discovered the mountains of silver in South America but soon defaulted after all that wealth. Unless we all get to do what’s best for society we will be in a worse off state with more short term debt. As we saw in the USA, short term debt can destroy the global financial system how much more a tiny country. Some very creative ideas of cost cutting ideas employed by emaSwati were revealed in one of the publications in the country. These include: Cooking on weekends only, having meatless days, popcorn snacks for children, texting instead of making phone calls, cutting down on entertainment, buying in bulk, downgrading on DStv subscriptions, switching to cheaper Wi-Fi  providers, walking instead of pending on bus fare, boiling instead of frying food, maximsing on vegetable combos, cutting down on hairstyling, stop using the heater and dress heavily, buying flour instead of bread, using rain water instead of tap water for washing clothes, backyard vegetable gardens, let the children wash the car instead of taking it to the car wash, buying a carrpack for consumption at home instead of heavy spending with friends in watering holes, doing your own laundry, using gas instead of electricity, the list goes on. “You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do what we gotta do, to survive”, Tupac in Changes.  I hope this will help in moving the country forward.

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