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Political Financiers Must Be
Unmasked
Mmegi/The
Reporter (Gaborone)
EDITORIAL
July 26, 2004
Posted to the web July 26, 2004
Except that
this country is called Botswana and occupies a geographical space, it does not
have any other legitimate claim to uniqueness. Take away the name Botswana and
this country could easily be Zimbabwe or any of those countries where
transparency and accountability are an endangered species.
In many ways,
we are at par with most of the countries that are demeaned for undemocratic
practices.
Even though the
Lesetedi Land Commission has not delivered its verdict, the evidence it
gathered strongly suggests that corruption and mismanagement is rife in this
country. The revelations at the Land Commission were just a tip of an iceberg.
The Commission was only restricted to investigate the land situation in
Gaborone and what came out was startling.
From the
proceedings of the Commission, one can almost conclude that some of our
leaders are not clean.
The lesson from
this Commission, and many others before it, is very simple. There is
corruption and there are leaders whose palms are impatient to be greased.
Whoever ignores this reality does so at his or her own peril. We were taken
aback when an official of government said there is no law that compels
political parties to disclose their financiers. We are not surprised so much
by the statement but by the brazen way it was delivered.
We are aware
that there are some ministers whose political campaigns are funded and they
keep the identity of their benefactors as a closely guarded secret. We know
that our resources and nation is mortgaged to friends, thugs and some corrupt
business-people who seal deals in clandestine political fund raising events
with some of our leaders.
This is a shame
and its high time something is done about the lack of transparency in
political funding.
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