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HOW I WISH

12/04/2018 00:54:00 By vusi Kunene

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WHAT milestone have we achieved as a country? It’s 50 years since we gained independence from our colonial masters; it is a great achievement that is worth celebrating.

A lot has happened in the country, some good things and some bad things have happened. As we celebrate this milestone, we need to look back and reflect on how we achieved the good there is to celebrate.

We need to look at how we were able to do the good that we are celebrating. Can we give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done or we were forced to do the good that we see today? We also have to look at the things which we did not do well. Is it so difficult to do certain things or what is so bad about them that we are not willing to do them?

After 50 years of independence, are we happy with our health institutions? Do we have enough health institutions to cater for the needs of the country?

What is stopping us from having enough if they are not enough? Is the service given by these institutions up to the standard required? Are the conditions in the institutions giving confidence to the person accessing the services or people are going there just because they have no other alternative? Is there enough personnel in the institutions?

If yes, why are we still having long queues in the hospitals? Imagine when you are sick and feeling pain but have to wait for a long time before you are attended to. Is this what we want as a country? Are we to celebrate that we still frequently run out of necessary drugs in our hospitals?

We will celebrate that we have a good network of roads than before but will we be celebrating those roads? Are our roads up to the required standard for vehicles to use them? I was looking at the by-pass road in Manzini, from Nazarene to KaKhoza and I wondered whether it is still a road or a path where oxen drag sledges?

And mind you this is where the celebrations will take place. However, I was happy that some work is being done on that road. If roads in town are so bad can you imagine the roads in rural areas? Should we celebrate that a road from Nhlangano to Gege needs more than a decade to be completed? Surely we cannot celebrate the road from Pigg’s Peak to Bulembu, a road that we have been told for a long time would be attended to but till today not even a stone has been laid.

Yes we need to celebrate because there are achievements to celebrate. But what a celebration it would be if civil servants were grated their cost of living adjustment before the increase in taxes. Imagine the celebration if there was an increment in elderly grants before electricity prices went up.

Imagine the celebration if there was employment for our young people. Imagine the celebration if a big part of our budget was for development issues. What a celebration it would be if the elderly and people with disabilities were to be subsidised for many services that they need for their survival.

Fifty years of independence yet we are still failing to prioritise food security. How good would it have been that the majority if not all that will be used during these celebrations were produced locally. We have the land to produce enough food for the country but unfortunately, food security is not a priority in our country and this is seen from the budget allocation towards agriculture. A lot of people are trained on agriculture but they are not provided with resources to start the projects that they are trained to do. Even those funds that are supposed to be accessed by the people, there is a lot of red tape that is discouraging.

In my view, it would be great to celebrate 50 years with Swazis enjoying their fundamental human rights. It is disheartening to see that the human right record in the country is still bad. Imagine having to explain yourself to security forces in a democratic country on why you associate with others.

How humiliating it is to be seen questioned so vigorously by the police for talking to certain people. A country where people are still not free to express themselves freely because security forces will stop and question or even arrest them.

A country where parliamentarians are not free to express themselves in Parliament because they will be taken to task for what they said. As we celebrate we need to reflect on these things and how we can bring our house in order.