Africa-Press – Lesotho. The problem with our civil servants has never been laziness or incompetence. The issue is that they are extremely competent and hardworking at the wrong things.
They know what needs to be done and can do it but just choose to expend their energy on other things. They also know there is no price to pay for doing the wrong things.
We all know that it’s insanely difficult to fire a government employee. Those who have made it their solemn mission to steal from the government, rig tenders and abuse know that the DCEO is a joke that has long ceased to be funny.
It is a notorious fact that you can steal millions from the government, get charged for your thievery, pay bail and continue to munch your loot while your case crawls in the courts.
You also get to keep your job and possibly steal more because “you are innocent until proven guilty”. This lack of consequences is the reason the government could now lose M3.2 billion to companies suing for botched deals and contracts.
As Sister Majara told us last week, some of those deals were either dubious or just mismanaged. She could have added that some of them look as if they were signed or managed by certified idiots or drug addicts but she knows better that this had nothing to do with idiocy or being slouched.
Most of it was deliberate and expertly contrived. What she didn’t say is how the government will deal with the civil servants who instigated or aided the mess that may now bankrupt the country.
Of course she could not hazard some solutions because she has none. Which makes her moaning pointless. Its only purpose is to give a veneer of transparency but it doesn’t stop the rot.
The rats keep chewing while she counts the losses. And it’s not as if her government is immune to similar debacles. What has changed is the political leadership, not the civil service cadre.
The circumstances that got us in this trouble are still the same. She was within her rights to blame the chaos on the previous government. But we can be sure that the next government will have its own list of sins committed by her administration.
It’s a merry-go-round with tragic consequences for the country. And it will not change until those who cause the government to lose money face proper punishment.
Maybe the Chinese way of dealing with thieves is the best. We need not chop off heads because that is dreadful. But maybe it’s high time some uncultured fingers are separated from their thieving owners.
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