STOP PROTESTS, BURNING STRUCTURES – COMMONWEALTH REP

EZULWINI – “Change will happen in Eswatini, but people should not incite law enforcers.”

This was said by Dr Roger Koranteng, who is from the Commonwealth Secretariat. Dr Koranteng was speaking during the retreat for Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday on the topic of good governance. He said there would be no peace reached if people continued to burn and destroy structures. He said instead, calm should be first restored in the country and only then could talks be held, not while guns and burning was continuing. Dr Koranteng said at the end of the day, all key stakeholders had to gather at the roundtable. “Even in South Africa, apartheid ended when two men sat down at the roundtable and reached an agreement,” said Dr Koranteng. He had been asked by Lomahasha MP Ndumiso Masimula if it was possible to apply the five principles of good governance under an absolute monarchy.

transparency

Part of the five principles of good governance are transparency, accountability, predictability and participation. Dr Koranteng said this was achievable, especially if the people elected or appointed into government practised all of them. He said participation recognised that people were at the heart of democratic development. The facilitator said what was missing in this world and in particular with African countries, was patience. He said emaSwati needed to exercise patience and stop the protests so that in a few months there could be a dialogue, but emphasised that dialogue would not take place while there was still some unrest. “There needs to be calm in the country,” he said.

Dr Koranteng said no one would be able to blow out the fire while standing in it. “You will get burnt by the same fire,” said the presenter. He said both parties should have peace and calm and that the protests should stop. On another note, the MPs were advised that they should be people of integrity instead of only being ethical. He said there was a difference between integrity and ethics, with the latter being an external system of rules and laws while integrity was an internal system which guided people’s behaviour. He said integrity could not be forced.

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