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MPS SEEM TO HAVE 2018 ELECTIONS IN MINDS

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IF I didn’t know any better I would be applauding legislators in the House of Assembly for rejecting the budget tabled by Finance Minister Martin Dlamini ostensibly because it is not reflective of the state of the nation.


Unfortunately the stance of the lawmakers can be likened to, and indeed resemble, the Sisyphean resistance – endless or fruitless resistance or pursuit – that is derived from the Biblical Sisyphus who endlessly pushed a stone uphill in Hades. In short the position of the Members of Parliament (MPs) is unsustainable under the prevailing political hegemony because political power does not reside with the people.


I am sure that by the time this column is published, the MPs would have given in and abdicated their initial position, and are now debating the budget as is and without any alterations or changes whatsoever. 
The reasons and rationale informing my position are varied and manifold. From the onset I should state that I am convinced that a very small minority among the current crop of MPs are masters of their thought processes and, therefore, have the courage of their convictions. Consequently, when the pressure mounts, a majority of them will wilt.


As I see it, the irony of it all is that past and current lawmakers are serving a political system only a minority comprehends. The rest are blissfully ignorant about the nuts and bolts of the Tinkhundla political system – with the exception of elections - but only happy with the financial rewards, the imperative that was the basis for buying – yes a good majority of MPs paid voters to be elected - their way into the Legislature. Cursorily the causal factors for this can be split into two; ignorance and culture of subservience.


The primary causes of ignorance are illiteracy and misinformation. Illiteracy is borne of a lack of opportunities because of economic and other socio-cultural – at times religious - considerations while misinformation is the stock-in-trade of the Tinkhundla political system. Speaking the truth to power is certainly not the forte of the obtaining political system. That is why today many people give government credit for social grants for the elderly, when this was achieved on the streets via protests by workers armed with 27 demands under the banner of the then Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU). There are many other socio-economic benefits accruing that were also mothered by the 27 workers demands that today constitute government policies.   


For a reality check, MPs must reflect on the abortive no confidence vote by the 9th Parliament on the incumbent Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini. Having done so they would have come to realise that if the Constitution, the so-called supreme law of the land  is not sacrosanct, they too had no political clout whatsoever. Then it would have dawned that they are a symbolic institution providing the veneer and serving to give credibility to the Tinkhundla political system as a viable system.


Now zeroing in on the substance of the issues raised by the MPs apropos the budget, one cannot help but wonder if since taking office in 2013, there ever have been a budget that put the people first. I do not seem to remember any budget in this and previous Parliaments that put people first. Here I am not talking about crumbs such as the Regional Development Fund, which is akin to throwing a dog a bone to keep it occupied yet it is only now, on the eve of general elections, that MPs have woken up to this reality.


As I see it, the substance of the debate of the issues pales into insignificance by the very apparent hypocrisy of the MPs serving their own interests – that is positioning themselves for reelection.
As it were, we are talking about serious issues here - such as the E20 million budgeted for Christian education - that should be central to our discourse. Just what were the architectors of the budget thinking, if indeed anyone had applied their minds at all? Or is this an insult into the collective intellect of the Swazi nation? What of the over E2 billion for the security forces when the Kingdom of eSwatini is not at and unlikely to ever fight a war with anyone. For a country that is often projected to be at peace with itself it is indeed very expensive maintaining the so-called peace.


If the obtaining political system was so popular, the question begging for an answer is the need of fortifying the kingdom when this country has no external enemy (mies) we the people know of. Could the people be the enemy against whom this country is being militarised?


As for the question of government’s cash flow problem, it would appear that no one really cares about addressing this challenge if the budget is anything to go by. In fact, the budget would suggest that government is awash with money with the only challenge being a lack of prudent financial management. Proof of this is the sustained pursuit of hedonistic projects that seek to project this as a First World country yet they are not viable and economically unsustainable. And yes, I concur with MPs that the elderly grant is still too meagre and ought to be increased substantially, at least to E800 a month.  
 

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