SYSTEM ARCHITECTURED TO KEEP EMASWATI SUBSERVIENT

Sir,

It’s surprising that we are still shocked by the commissions and omissions of the governing elite that occasionally come to light through an otherwise timid and fearful press, given the regularity with which they occur that increasingly are embedding themselves as normal and projecting the façade of how things are done in Eswatini, that manifestly are the products of unfettered and abuse of political power occasioned by the Tinkhundla Political System that does not allow for opposition voices.

Afraid

But what we ought to be afraid of are those transgressions we are not aware of and that probably will forever remain hidden from the tax paying public that is the primary sponsor of government – and there are plenty of these in a country that has banished freedom of expression and, by extension, freedom of speech and the press. As things turn out, the obtaining polity was specifically architectured to keep the people subservient in order to create enabling conditions for the political elites to do as they please, without any requirement to be accountable to anyone. In recent times we have read how government kept hidden from emaSwati a five-year rolling E300 million grant from the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Transactions

There are many more known but unreported scandalous, if not criminal, transactions and happenings around the country, but because of the fear of the unknown given the lack of accountability by those charged with public office they will probably remain unknown to the people who invariably are kept in the dark on many issues that impact them. Given the architecture of the Tinkhundla Political System, government is not obligated to be accountable, at least to the people who have no power over it and how it disburses their tax Emalangeni, hence an ever increasing trust deficit from its public, including bilateral and multilateral partners who are now loath to transmit funds to government but would rather direct funding to projects for which they are meant.

Forget the Parliament charade that is meant to project a normal modern governing mechanism, it is only there for effect with no power whatsoever to even stop the routine diversion of funds from the budget. The trajectory that successive governments have over the years steered the kingdom to is one to the abyss hence the failure to contain runaway institutional corruption and to stop deepening poverty that is holding captive the majority of the people.

Pride

In recent times we have watched, aghast, government taking pride in begging for and on behalf of emaSwati, yet still continued to waste huge amounts of money on useless projects that are envisaged to take this country to First World status. Let us pray that soon the much anticipated dialogue will birth to a new trajectory for renewal in which government will be in service of the people and set itself the goal of improving the lives of ordinary folk and consider them also worthy of a decent lifestyle.

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