It's the constitution, Stupid!
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 advice against International best governance standards, then the president could successfully manage our economy. I forgot to factor in the all consuming need for self preservation by any incoming president under our current constitutional dispensation.
Our constitution is the elephant in the room, so to speak. The constitution provides for the incumbent to single handedly appoint the next president. The next president so appointed is not even appointed on an acting capacity. He/She has full presidential authority. The only check provided on the president's exercise of power is that he/she has to conduct general elections by October of the same year, i.e. within seven months of his/her becoming president.
Because the incoming president has no mandate from the electorate, he sees (imagines) enemies under every rock and cranny! He knows that for at least seven months, he will owe his position to a man who is no longer in power. So, self-preservation takes centre stage. He becomes suspicious of all in government who are more educated than himself. He retreats to his cave of blissful illiteracy, leaving behind a hastily put together crew of praise singers and fellow illiterates. The cave extends from the state house to the equally uneducated rural populations, bypassing any and all competent workers in his administration, and in the economy at large. Given the nature of our economy, where Government owns almost everything of any value to the economy, the abandoned actors in the government machinery resort to corruption to "level" the power playing field. Everything starts going to the dogs, while the next election gets securely bagged. After all the rural population neither understands nor cares how the economy is run. All they care about is their monthly destitute rations being available in their neighborhood grocery shops.
Unless and until our constitution is disengaged from the "shit hole" parade, and it becomes mandatory that ALL officials, including the president get elected by all those that they will represent upon winning the election, then we stand no chance of extricating ourselves from the economic quagmire that we find ourselves in today.
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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 advice against International best governance standards, then the president could successfully manage our economy. I forgot to factor in the all consuming need for self preservation by any incoming president under our current constitutional dispensation.
Our constitution is the elephant in the room, so to speak. The constitution provides for the incumbent to single handedly appoint the next president. The next president so appointed is not even appointed on an acting capacity. He/She has full presidential authority. The only check provided on the president's exercise of power is that he/she has to conduct general elections by October of the same year, i.e. within seven months of his/her becoming president.
Because the incoming president has no mandate from the electorate, he sees (imagines) enemies under every rock and cranny! He knows that for at least seven months, he will owe his position to a man who is no longer in power. So, self-preservation takes centre stage. He becomes suspicious of all in government who are more educated than himself. He retreats to his cave of blissful illiteracy, leaving behind a hastily put together crew of praise singers and fellow illiterates. The cave extends from the state house to the equally uneducated rural populations, bypassing any and all competent workers in his administration, and in the economy at large. Given the nature of our economy, where Government owns almost everything of any value to the economy, the abandoned actors in the government machinery resort to corruption to "level" the power playing field. Everything starts going to the dogs, while the next election gets securely bagged. After all the rural population neither understands nor cares how the economy is run. All they care about is their monthly destitute rations being available in their neighborhood grocery shops.
Unless and until our constitution is disengaged from the "shit hole" parade, and it becomes mandatory that ALL officials, including the president get elected by all those that they will represent upon winning the election, then we stand no chance of extricating ourselves from the economic quagmire that we find ourselves in today.
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