Khama and the 70% liquor tax

For starters, he should be advised to make judicious decisions. This advice is imperative in view of Khama's station in the country. He is an imperial president. Chief of a powerful  ethnic group and the son of the country's first president. He is therefore more powerful than he can conjure.

His power, which is anchored on many fronts means that he is even more powerful than our beloved founder President, his father, as well as the two presidents preceding him. He therefore has to make decisions that are well judged. Failure to do that will result in a grievous mishap for the nation he so loves. For that he loves this country and its people is not in doubt. President Khama should know that owing to his power-he is never engaged. It therefore follows that his initiatives, ideas and opinions hardly ever enjoy benefit of scrutiny from advisors, cabinet colleagues and his party. His opinions are never tested through debate. Should Khama fail this nation he will not be the first good person to travel this path. Like all good people it would be a path of his own choosing. Unfortunately his failure will affect all of us. 

For example the beloved Richard Nixon, 37th US president was compelled to resign the presidency of the United States of America over the Watergate scandal. Here in Africa, the much revered Julius Nyerere of Tanzania failed his nation through his Ujamaa experiments and the celebrated Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia with his ideology of humanism. Examples are galore.

Some of Khama's seemingly untested initiatives are premised on a puzzling urge to impress the nation. Well meaning as they are, if  he is not careful  some of his decisions will achieve the opposite of their intended objectives. Should that happen, Batswana may have to live with an unintended 5th D of Khama's presidency-Disaster. The risks are too ghastly to contemplate. Trendy pledges can too easily generate what Allister Sparks calls 'a crisis of expectations when delivery falls short'.

Khama's promise and or pledge to have government buying tractors and ploughing for people will certainly generate negative outcomes. One of the vices that will be generated is corruption. Small farmers having to bribe those in control of the tractors in order to benefit first. The initiative will also dwarf entrepreneurship as those who have invested or are planning to invest in ploughing machinery for rent will be taken out of business by government. This is a recipe for disaster. What is baffling is that Khama has not told the nation that his government is pursuing a communist agenda. And examples of failed communist states abound.

Comrade Khama should know that in order for the poor to be ameliorated from their atrocious living conditions, his government needs a vibrant economy with a robust growth rate. Condition for growth is the steady increase in the productive capacity of the economy. The private sector drives growth while government plays the role of an enabler. Government must provide an enabling environment for business, and  a good climate for investment. Government should nurture and incubate business by among others reducing state intervention, opening up the economy, removing regulatory barriers and tackling corruption and cronyism etc.

As the president and his government lurch from one impulsive initiative to the next, by far the most serious is the decision to increase taxation on liquor by 70%. The immediate impact is a contraction of the liquor industry, loss of employment and investment opportunities, investor flight and increased levels of poverty.

Reasons for Khama to hate alcohol remain a mystery. In any case countries cannot be run on the basis of what a single individual hates or likes. That alcohol abuse has negative consequences is not in dispute. Nor is Botswana the only country confronted by this problem. However other countries have come out with more innovative ways to address the situation. Imposing a 70% levy is a sledge hammer approach that fails to take into account the complexity of consumption and trade in alcohol. The first casualty of the levy will be the very person Khama wants to protect- the poor. The well resourced will easily de-scale their investment in the country and take it to another destination while the well off consumer will not feel the pinch of the hike. The poor will seek solace in dangerous home brewed concoctions. What is even more disturbing is that by turning a personal whim into public policy Khama kills the liquor industry and fails to avail policies and programmes to assist those affected. There are no social safety nets to protect the temporarily unemployed. No financial support for traders who have loans to service. A responsible government does not act in this manner towards its people. What is even more baffling is the tsunami-like speed at which Khama is going. One wonders what prejudice would be occasioned if Khama could give people time to disinvest from the liquor industry?

An equally worrying factor is the tendency by the new regime to disregard our identity as a secular state where the right to individual choice is considered paramount. It must always be known that ours is a society founded on civil liberties which must be protected at all cost because their erosion can only spell doom for the nation.

Let Khama not squander an opportunity to create a better Botswana by allowing his personal dislikes to subjugate the aggregate interest of the nation in the form of investment, jobs and economic growth.

Diphetogo Maswabi
Gaborone
BCP council candidate for Marulamantsi Ward in Gaborone.