DEMOCRACY’S ESSENCE IS FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Sir,

There are no shortcuts to good governance. Systematic problems require structural solutions, but the political scenario in our country is like that of a patient in an emergency room.

Any mature electorate understands that the fundamental problem of democracy in the country is not about who is doing what in government, but whether or not the right systems are in place. In any functional democracy, no person who loves his or her country will want to elect a corrupt or incompetent politician, and someone who loves his or her spouse will not want a magician in the delivery room.

The Kingdom of Eswatini has witnessed for decades the same old brand of politics. Unless every poor child will have the opportunity to finish college from a good school, be voted into office, and thereby implement programmes that will address the concerns he or she had before, then we are far from being the kind of society our great men and women of the timeless past had envisioned for this country. Right now, most politicians trumpet motherhood statements, proclaiming the love of the country and the desire to serve emaSwati but they do so by turning a blind eye on the real root cause of the ills in society.

Thousands of people perpetually suffer, not only because government lacks resources but because of corruption. A clinical analysis of our problems will also point to culture and the kind of politics it so defines. Corruption kills. It kills without remorse because the money that is supposed to be spent on medication to save a poor person’s life is diverted to purchase another’s luxury. We need a new breed of committed and intelligent young people in our bureaucracy to voice dissent against corruption.

The solutions to our social and economic problems lie in the effective functioning of our institutions. People empowerment means that ordinary citizens are given an opportunity to make intelligent judgments in the electoral process. The essence of democracy is freedom of choice, which is at the very core of one’s political existence - the consent of the people to be governed.

The right of others not to be excluded from development mandates that political arrangements must work for the full realisation of the happiness of the least disadvantaged. But the issue is not really poverty, but the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite. The cruel truth is that the biggest obstacle in realising the ends of a just society is that our politicians owe their rich financiers. 

Thabo Hlanze

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: