Where do government's priorities lie?

Living in Swaziland is very difficult for people who care not for stomach politics but for the livelihood of the ‘ordinary’ citizens.

The environment is not conducive since corruption, nepotism and crime happen right under our noses and we have no other alternative but to keep quiet and let it be.

Education, health and agriculture are key to a country’s development and Swaziland would develop greatly if she were to invest in these three areas.

These three are interdependent and cannot be divorced from each other. People need to be educated for them to be healthy and become agriculture professionals who will keep the working class healthy, increase agricultural production and enhance the production of other commodities necessary for economic growth.

If we are not healthy, education and agricultural production are impossible; and without proper agricultural skills, food production is minimised, hence compromising the health and education of the nation.

It is very painful, therefore, to witness the education and the health of the nation being ignored and other, less important things being given utmost priority. Some people are sent to study journalism courses (which the government says does not help the country) in the northern hemisphere, spending millions of the taxpayers’ money when the same (or even better) course would not cost more than E12 000 at UNISWA.

While a man who was trying to make ends meet by smuggling cigarettes, and who was beaten to a pulp by soldiers, had to travel about a hundred kilometres from Good Shepherd Hospital to die at the Mbabane Government Hospital because of the lack of proper medical equipment.

As I write, TB patients are languishing at the TB centre because of the government’s failure to increase safety standards. 　Where, really, are we heading?

The government has failed to provide scholarships to 700 UNISWA students with the excuse that ‘there is no money’.

The future of Swazi children is in limbo since Minister Lutfo Dlamini and his colleagues released the ‘priority list’ long after the Form V leavers had applied to the various institutions of higher learning.

One wonders why it had to be released so late and why we have priorities at all, since the scholarship policy has not been passed - and has been rejected by – the students, who are stakeholders. Government is deliberately denying Swazis the basic human right to education and it is a cause for concern.

When the Minister of Finance, Majozi Sithole, announced that Swaziland’s long-awaited SACU receipts had started trickling in, I knew the party had begun!

Such a lot of money would go a long way in educating the 700 students who were refused scholarships and would be of great benefit to the country.

This money is enough to educate the current bunch of students under government scholarship until they obtain their degrees or whatever qualification they are under as well as in building a state of the art hospital.

　We are not happy when we see our colleagues denied scholarships because of government priorities.

We are not happy when our brothers and sisters are dying of MDR-TB and XDR-TB and other illnesses because of the lack of proper medical equipment and healthcare.

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