Shashe

Just when you think that Barwa have finally learned the truth about what the roots of this republic, Botswana are, you receive the shocking news that the President, who is incidentally a Nrwa, is recommending that Francistown, our City of Gold, be called "Spaghetti City". For those who have not been to Francistown recently, a "spaghetti traffic junction" built by the Chinese, was completed last year. It is the first of its kind in the country, but another is due for construction in the capital city Gaborone soon. The building of the Francistown spaghetti junction was intended primarily to improve the flow of traffic from the south (South Africa, Lesotho) to the north and west (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia etc.). The junction is part of an International trade corridor infrastructure - an African equivalent of the Chinese Silk Road, if you will. The current informal "streetwise" name for Francistown is "The Ghetto"....

As our country hurtles towards the March 31 Presidential transition, much unsolicited advice is flowing thick and fast from newsrooms, chatrooms and even sh*trooms. As citizens we are all itching to advise the incoming president about what to do and what not to do in order to improve our economic conditions, but we forget to ask ourselves how well, if at all, our advice was taken in the past. I remember the skepticism that was expressed by some when then incoming president Ian Khama was succeeding President Festus Mogae some ten years ago. A man whose academic credentials were  certified to be no higher than primary education was taking charge of an economy that had up to then been run by an economics graduate of top British universities. We held our breath. I regret to say that I was not among the skeptics. I felt that if the incoming president could appoint highly qualified people into the top posts of government, learn to trust their advice or continually cross check such advi...