RESTORE SOCIAL SPENDING

Sir,

We are a small population, therefore, public service delivery should be a walk in the park for our government. But no, as with all cases that government has to spend money to serve its people, service delivery for ordinary citizens is always an impossible task squashed to the bottom pile of the country’s priorities. One has to ask: why is it difficult for our government to do the right thing and spend money where it is needed the most? Is it right to conclude that our government is simply incompetent or should we simply expect nothing from it because clearly the way things are going you and I simply do not matter.

Investment

With just over one million people to take care of, Eswatini could really be a marvel of the South, if and only if our government could simply spend our money on the right kind of public investments. Is it not obvious to our government that spending on healthcare and education, and providing social protection benefits, can have profound effects on social and economic progress of our nation? Spending on these key sectors is not about increasing administration, it is about providing real tangible services, that is, providing fully functional quality hospitals and schools.

Salary

There is nothing more painful than to have almost half one’s salary snatched by the Eswatini Revenue Authority (ERA), only for that money to be washed down in pointless skyscrapers and expensive toys for our soldiers, among many other frills and thrills that seem to take priority in all our national budgets. While billions of Emalangeni are directed to the construction of the country’s new millennium jewels, government is failing to keep its people alive as all our public hospitals are in a state of disrepair with no medical supplies to treat patients.

Diseases

The unfortunate thing is that small illnesses that can easily be treated are now escalating into major diseases that will need even greater resources to manage. The whole country was excited when the era of the former government came to an end, which gave way for the current government, which in turn promised Eswatini a new way of doing things within government, drawing lessons from the private sector. To-date, we are still waiting for the promised changes. Look around, the country is still spiralling on the same path with a large capital projects accounts the public pursue and stalling all planned social development programmes. Government needs to recognize that time waits for no one, the country cannot operate in perpetual planning: we need to see real action. Our hospitals need medications, the young need scholarships, the elderly need their grants and pupils need to be fed in schools. We have just turned into a great pile of need, yet in the background, shiny skyscrapers are rising.

When the country sends convoys upon convoy to deliver SOS calls to other nations to come and rescue our country in need, and when government receives that money, it never truly addresses the social or economic problems that need the country’s immediate attention. Instead, that money is re-routed to much more important and exigent national priorities, which surprisingly never come to an end. Can government please give its people at least this one guarantee: that in all the pressing national priorities that government is wrapped up in, emaSwati will always be guaranteed at least proper and quality service in all our public hospitals and clinics.

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