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BIG NO TO ‘ANIMAL FARM’ TENDENCIES

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The irony displayed by our parliamentarians this week where on the one hand they accuse the Clerk  to Parliament Ndvuna Dlamini of adopting ‘Animal Farm’ practices when authorising trips for the legislators, yet on the other an MP stands up to call for special treatment for cops found drink-driving is disgraceful to say the least - but not surprising.


The Clerk was accused of booking first class travel for some and economy class travel for others, even when the MPs are on the same trip. It is scandalous that the MPs were not even condemning the Clerk for authorising trips when the country could hardly afford to pay service providers during these difficult economic times.


However, MPs continue to display that they have no shame. How else do you explain long serving Siphofaneni MP Gundwane Gamedze’s suggestion that police found guilty of ‘DD’ should not be dismissed but given light punishment because it is too expensive to train them? Absolute nonsense.


These are parliamentarians tasked with oversight to ensure that the Executive is spending our financial resources prudently. If they find it appropriate to travel first class in this day and age and go soft on serious transgressions, then we may as well have no priorities, no law and adopt the antics of author George Orwell’s characters in his book ‘Animal Farm’, as the official administrative culture of this country where some people are more equal than others.


This type of thinking, however, is common in many segments of our society; particularly in governance where adherence to the law or rules, regulations and best practices are set aside when needed the most.
We wake up to screaming headlines about government being broke, or to the fact that Swaziland failed to meet yet another deadline on the required amendments to our laws that would help this country regain AGOA in order to give people jobs, simply because the poor are given no respect in this country.


Resign


We do not expect MP Gamedze to suggest that they (MPs) resign for failing the poor voters because he believes people who don’t do their jobs properly deserve to keep their jobs simply because it is too costly for the country to train them.
It doesn’t end in Parliament. This week Mbabane ratepayers were subjected to similar treatment. The municipality prepared two sets of audited financial statements but felt the ratepayers deserved to see only the abridged version. This resulted in a showdown between Mbabane Mayor Benito Jones and businessman Walter Bennett who was stopped from posing questions on the detailed document. Why?


What is it that the council has to hide? Does management of the municipality feel transparency and accountability should not apply to them, just as the ‘DD’ law should not apply fully to the cops? It would certainly seem like it.


We were also taken aback this week by reports of selective treatment in terms of interventions on the drought situation. From a visit to Lubulini, a picture emerged of how the poor did not enjoy the same relief services as the urban folk.


Almost every area in Mbabane is provided with water tanks which are filled regularly for residents to cope with the water rationing, but the same cannot be said of the Lubulini folk who have to dig up sand to have access to water  in the dried up Ngwavuma River. There are no regular refills of the few water tanks that are situated in distant places for many residents in this area, as is the case in the city.


No need to ask why in a country that seems to have adopted the culture of having some people being more important than others. This is wrong. If there are water tanks every kilometre or two in the city, the same should apply in rural communities. What makes the Lubulini residents lesser human beings?


You only have to look to Parliament to understand why. These are legislators who approved a 32 per cent salary hike for themselves hardly a few months after the drought was declared a national emergency, knowing very well that government couldn’t afford it.
Now companies are threatening to retrench workers because services rendered to the now broke government have not been paid for, dating back several months.


This, of course, doesn’t bother anybody because those affected are less equal than those who enjoy access to the limited resources we have left.
By our standards, it makes the Clerk to Parliament no different at being the most effective and efficient in the implementation of our animal farm tendencies to all who have the power to make the right decisions but chose not to.

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