This is to say when it comes to democracy no country is better.
Phrases like ‘beacon of democracy’ are usually reserved for countries in Africa because people from Identifying Beacons of Democracy School believe democracy in Africa is as scarce as kangaroos in the Kgalagadi Desert.
Granted, I have personally never had any political schooling except the sporadic shouting I get from the neighborhood freedom square as I drive past during an election year.
Which is not much schooling and basically at a level below kindergarten in politics.
To me being a beacon of democracy means giving as many people and parties a chance to be eligible to be voted into political gravy train, sorry, office. This doesn’t quite happen here though mainly because if you so much as form a party, people will be on your case and ask why you do not join the other kids in the already existing parties.
The opposition leaders would be saying stuff like ‘do not vote for those who are not a part of the collective’. Those who are in power will also berate you for not having the interest of Batswana at heart and scoff at your attempts when all you want to do is represent your people and your interests after being jaded by life. The real beacon of democracy should be Lesotho.
Read that again. L-e-s-o-t-h-o. In the just ended election, the little country with a population of around 2.3 million showed its mettle in the beacon of democracy ratings and proved to all and sundry why they are top of the pile.
In a classic give-everyone-a-chance 65 parties stood for elections. If you do the Math that is around 35,000 for each party on average if the elections are fair (and free of course).
I think what happend in Lesotho is that many people there wake up and feel a burning desire to represent their people perhaps because prices of blankets have gone up or because the rights of horses have been trampled on by the ruling party.
They would then gather a few people and form a party. The IEC will quickly register that party because they probably have offices all over the country with special officers whose sole mandate is registering new parties.
I took a keen interest in the elections mainly because I once visited Lesotho. I was rooting for a few parties that I fell in love with at first sight when I saw their names. Cupid shot that arrow so quick I could not get out of the way.
This might not be a good reason to support a political party but I too have those inalienable rights that afford me the right to choose whichever party I like in Lesotho and so I really am not apologetic about my choice.
The first was called Cry Not Child. How is that for a political party name. There was also the Prayer Shawl and Light and the White Horse Party. These are very innovative names. If you analyse these names deeply you will realise that these are parties that could potentially usher a new dawn if they win elections and are likely to do things very differently.
They have bucked the trend of using names with democratic, alliance, front, etc and other fatiguing names like that which are used by parties that lack inventiveness and want to portray themselves as serious when in fact their seriousness usually peters at their names.
My parties did not fare so well in the elections. None of the news items about the elections ever mentioned the exploits of Cry Not Child or Prayer Shawl and Light or White Horse Party. This clearly shows journalists these days do not take their jobs seriously.
The only parties that enjoyed coverage were the ruling party and the new party that was sweeping everyone aside. I surmised that Basotho do not want news headlines like ‘MPs from Cry Not Child reject motion’ or ‘Prayer Shawl and Light president promises a new Lesotho’. But they will come round one day and appreciate the value of my favourite parties and usher one of them onto the ruling pedestal.
On a daily I read the news hoping that Lesotho IEC or some international organisation will say something like ‘the elections were not free and fair’ so that my parties get a second bite at the cherry.
I have not had much luck yet. (For comments, feedback and insults email [email protected]) Thulaganyo Jankey is a training consultant who runs his own training consultancy that provides training in BQA- accredited courses.
His other services include registering consultancies with BQA and developing training courses.
Contact him on 74447920 or email [email protected]
