SKYSCRAPERS RISING BUT EMASWATI NEGLECTED

Sir,
 We are a small population, therefore, public service delivery should be a walk in the park for government. But no, as with all cases that government has to spend money to serve its people, service delivery for ordinary citizens is always an impossible task squashed to the bottom pile of the country’s priorities. One has to ask; why is it difficult for government to do the right thing and spend money where it is needed the most? Is it right to conclude that it is simply incompetent or should we simply expect nothing from it because clearly the way things are going you and I simply do not matter.

Investments

With just over one million people to take care of, Eswatini could really be a marvel of the South, if and only if government could simply spend our money on the right kind of public investments. Is it not obvious that spending on healthcare and education, and providing social protection benefits, can have profound effects on social and economic progress of our nation? Spending on these key sectors is not about increasing administration, it is about providing real tangible services, that is providing fully functional quality hospitals and schools.

There is nothing more painful than to have almost half of one’s salary snatched by the Eswatini Revenue Authority (ERA), only for that money to be washed down in pointless skyscrapers and expensive toys for our soldiers, among many other frills and thrills that seem to take priority in all our national budgets. While billions of Emalangeni are directed to the construction of the country’s millennium jewels, government is failing to keep its people alive as all our public hospitals are in a state of disrepair with no medical supplies to treat patients.

The unfortunate thing is that small illnesses that can easily be treated are now escalating into major diseases that will need even greater resources to manage. Look around, the country is still spiralling on the same path with large capital projects accounting for a huge part of the public pursue and stalling all planned social development programmes. Government needs to recognise that time waits for no one, the country cannot operate in perpetual planning; we need to see real action. Our hospitals need medications, the young need scholarships, the elderly need their grants and pupils need to be fed in schools. We have just turned into a great pile of need, yet in the background, shiny skyscrapers are rising.

Can government please give its people at least this one guarantee; that in all the pressing national priorities that government is wrapped up in, emaSwati will always be guaranteed at least proper and quality service in all our public hospitals and clinics.

T Dlamini

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