AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 202 of 332 employees never went on strike (government is the largest employer in the country), even at times when their six-monthly revision of dearness allowance was withheld or postponed due to strain on government finances. On pricking their feelings to find out why the employees did not strike when denied the dues, it was revealing to hear from them that although their personal finances were under strain, the government finances were under greater stress and that one needed to be patient knowing that at the appropriate time, the same would be granted. That showed a great deal of understanding and trust on the part of the people. Such concern was evident on the part of government too. The elected representatives including that of the Ministers’ offices and of the government officials were open for anyone with a problem/ complaint. Further, it was mandatory for every elected representative (Member of Parliament), accompanied by representatives of departments providing civic facilities, to attend village meetings (known as Kgotla meetings) once every three months in their respective constituent villages to listen to the complaints and suggestions and resolve them. This encouraged accountability from the government as well as citizen involvement and the results were evident in the quality of civic services in their villages. Ever since their independence in 1966, elections have been held every five years. During our stay, there were two elections conducted. We observed these to be largely peaceful and in fact, uneventful. Botswana has a Presidential form of government, with a maximum of two tenures of Presidency for a person. To their credit, even while on brute majority, the ruling party did not make any effort to amend this tenure, which is in stark contrast to the happenings in their immediate neighborhood of Zimbabwe. It was common to find ministers standing in queue to avail of services in banks and in shops/malls. During the initial fortnight of our stay, standing in a queue in a bank, I was amused that some local soldiers were saluting me (wondering how did they know that I am a veteran from India!!!!), only to realize that it was directed at their Defence Minister, who was standing in queue a little behind me. Interestingly, neither would a local offer him a priority nor would he expect it. One of the factors that surprised me was the extremely low levels of corruption. We never had any occasion, either in my official capacity or in our personal dealings like obtaining some services from government departments, when there was an indication of such demands. In the Transparency Index, Botswana was much ahead of many developing nations - 34/180 nations). We realized that the base for such integrity was set by its founding fathers and carried on by its flag bearers. One such early incident is worth mentioning. The Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crimes (DCEC), which is a constitutional body, and reported directly to the President had received some information and evidence that the incumbent President’s brother-in-law, who was a very senior civil servant (Secretary to the Govt) had claimed an amount (in terms of