The year is here, lets face it with renewed vigour

| Wednesday January 9, 2013 00:00

Some of those resolutions never exist beyond the end of the first month. However, both individually and as a nation, we would be best advised to not just reflect on our recent past but to rededicate ourselves to the future. As individual citizens it is important to meet our own commitments. If you are a father it is time to rededicate yourself to your children, and if you are a student you might want to seriously consider where you struggled last semester and find ways to solve that challenge. Some of our challenges come from our work. It is only when we are better at what we do in our work places and various areas of responsibility that we can move this country forward. Politicians need to go back to their constituents and report back. Not just for the narrow political interests of the next year but most importantly to empower the constituents about matters that relate directly to their lives, and also take the input of members of the community back to council or Parliament. Everyone  from engineers, preachers and imams to drivers of public transport, security officers and teachers - it is time to focus on delivering on our areas of expertise. Letsema le thata ka mong wa lone.It is incumbent upon each one of us to help this country at an individual level if we could ever hope to improve our condition as a country and society.  On a national scale, we know that this country still faces specific challenges to which we urge our leaders to prioritise.

Poverty remains a major challenge. It is obvious from the levels of poverty in this country that either the programs  existing are not properly formulated or not well implemented or are outright irrelevant.  A much more inclusive economic growth model needs to be devised so that our economic growth provides for a better living for the majority of our people. Something fundamental must be flawed about our development model when such a number of people wallow in deprivation when the country continues to register economic growth. We urge government to think at a strategic level and interrogate why this remains. When President Festus Mogae took over he had a masterplan to turn this country around. He would move this country towards cutting edge knowledge development. The University of Technology is one of the major projects he saw as fundamental to this approach.

Mogae understood that it would not work to simply take the 'business as usual' approach.  He invested heavily in international level tertiary education on a new generation of Batswana. We should be able to use this wealth of skill to develop this country. This year if anything, government's challenge should be to find a way to harness this generation of educated Batswana so that they do not wallow in the streets while the country requires their skills. It is this year that we should deliver on the promise to our young people that if they passed their studies they would find something meaningful to contribute to their country. This should not be done as a short-term measure to attract voters but as a genuine recognition of the challenges facing this nation and a dedication to dealing with them. Happy new year!

                             Today's thought

                 This bright new year is given me                  To live each day with zest . . .                    To daily grow and try to be                       My highest and my best!

                            - William Arthur Ward