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THEY DO NOT CARE

22/03/2018 07:20:00 By vusi Kunene

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A German Lutheran priest once said; “They came for the Communist and I did not speak – because I was not a Communist.

They came for the Jews and I did not speak – because I was not a Jew. They came for the Trade Unionist and I did not speak – because I was not a Trade Unionist. And then they came for me and there was no one to speak.” These words resonate with what is happening in our country. People do not stand up because it does not affect them. By the time it affects them, there will be no one to speak for them.

I hope our Members of Parliament have learnt a lesson from their complaint. So long as they ignore the cries of other people, no one will stand for or with them during their time of need. They now fear and are complaining about the monster they call a Vote for Woman campaign. No one is listening to their cry.

It is true that campaigning has not been opened in the country, at least officially, but we will not sympathise with them because they have failed in their duties. If they had performed their duties well, no one would be campaigning for women because we would be happy with their performance but because they have dismally failed, there is a feeling that maybe if we have more women things will be better. After all they are complaining yet they are already campaigning clandestinely. At least this campaign is in the open. It’s because they did not care for the people this people feel change is necessary. If they had done their job they would not fear anything because their work would be campaigning for them.

The Vote for Woman campaign is also going to help the country meet its obligation in terms of the number of women in Parliament. I think MPs should be supporting the campaign because it will assist them in what they failed to do.
They failed to form an electoral college that would have elected four women to at least push up the number of women in Parliament.

Hiding behind the rhetoric that there was lack of enabling legislation will not help because the Constitution is law enough and it guides them on how to do that. But because they never care they decided to take the negative route.
The campaign will also assist the image of the country regionally and internationally. A number of international mechanisms have condemned the country on the lack of women representation in decision-making bodies. Your UPR, ICCPR, CEDAW and other committees have raised recommendations about this issue and nothing is being done. We may even stop saying people go out of the country to speak ill about the kingdom, as such a campaign will stop those going out because the country would have done what it committed to do. But parliamentarians fail to see this because they do not care.
They have failed to assist people and only care about themselves. I know that some will applaud and say at least they did a good job by reducing the amount for the prime minister’s house but I will differ. If they cared, the E3 million for this house would be doing things that will benefit a number of people. All civil servants build their own houses and he should do the same. Why is he treated differently from all others at the expense of the whole country? There is no money for other issues of benefit to the people, but there is E3 million to be given to one person. I know they will say this is provided in the law and I will say that law is not cast in stone and they are the people who have powers to change laws and make sure that State resources are for the benefit of all. They have, therefore, failed to prevent, actually they have allowed, the loss of E3 million that would have benefitted more Swazis.
These are the people who must provide an oversight on Cabinet and make sure public funds are protected but they have failed. Who knows, maybe a Parliament with more women will fare better because they care. What we currently have are people who only care about themselves and fail to see what is good for Swazi people. They failed to reprimand Cabinet ministers when they were also campaigning for one of their own in Pigg’s Peak under the pretext that they were donating, but have the audacity to stand up and speak now that others who they consider weak are doing it. They remained silent on issues that did not affect them directly and now that it is coming for them they expect people to help. Unfortunately, there is no one to speak now. You do not care about people but only want to go back to Parliament to get paid handsomely.