Why does President Boko no longer hold Press Conferences?

Well, at long last, the cookie has popped out of the jar! It’s clear that ever since that fateful day when he dressed down the men and women of the Noble Profession, President Duma Boko is no longer interested in addressing the nation via the Media.

That is to say, ever since he told journalists to their face that they write poor grammar, and that he would rather listen to taxi drivers and kombi drivers at the bus rank who make more sense than journalists, Boko has hardly ever addressed a Press Conference at home.

This is telling. Does it mean he has cut ties with the Media? Does our President no longer care for the Press? Has the relationship broken down irretrievably, or is there hope of salvaging something from it?

As I have said before, any leader who knowingly engages in a conflict with the Media is bound to get hurt! And it’s not that the Media itself will hurt him or her, but that it’s an exercise in futility to pick a fight with the men and women of the Press / Fourth Estate.

Leaders – especially elected politicians have a very short span at public office, hence they desire to control the Media by any means necessary! Such leaders are most of the time self-serving and constantly in need of mechanisms to control the narrative, to present themselves before the public as ‘Messiahs’.

But when they cannot achieve this objective in the Private Media space, they resort to scaremongering, to harassment, and devise means to induce journalists to self-censor.

At the rate we are going, Ministers are also likely to take a cue from the President and start avoiding journalists. Let me reiterate that journalists work for the public good. Their work is enabled by the supreme law of the land.

Of course, that provision at Section 12, which grants every person the freedom of expression and conscience, is limited in that it does not extend to the freedom of the press.

We appeal to the country’s Attorney General, Dick Bayford, a man who has always been a friend of the Press, to advise both the Presidency and Cabinet accordingly regarding how to relate to the Press.

A healthy relationship between the government and the Press benefits all of society.

As it is, international watchdogs have already scored our media freedoms poorly. Latest reports by Intelwatch and Reporters Without Borders accuse President Boko of hostile rhetoric and attitude towards the Press.

And as we all know, press freedom ranks high in any country’s democracy index. I would advise the President and his Cabinet to right their wrongs at the earliest.

Rain, rain – rain everywhere! With the recent downpours, life has become unbearable for some segments of our society. There are areas in town that boast poor stormwater drainage. Every time it rains, the roads flood, and worst still, some residences suffer the indignity of burst drains.

You can imagine a yard full of effluent, the stench that goes for days and the risks to human health! This condition needs to be resolved as soon as possible, but sadly, the Water Utilities Corporation is not bothered.

Ever since they took over water and drainage services from the local government, the Water Utilities Corporation has failed dismally to step up to the plate.

Granted, they have inherited old and dilapidated infrastructure in the form of rusty underground pipes, yet this excuse cannot hold forever; they need to replace the pipes!

A bitter, angry nation!

The anger is palpable. Everywhere you go, it’s there. Of course, our economy is not doing well, but we are not helping the situation by brooding and sulking. We have turned into an intolerant, angry and despondent nation.

People no longer engage in civil conversations. Differences are excuses to disparage one another along partisan lines. What is this really? Are people no longer allowed to differ?

I went to the clinic the other day for a check-up, and was surprised at the amount of abuse that people throw at each other, even in hallowed places, like clinics!

And what was the source of all the abuse? Many had come for a blood test, but were turned back because there were no resources for such a service. This had everybody tripping!

It is time we thought about our own means. Do you remember the time before modern and conventional medicine? Our foreparents did not go to hospitals or clinics to deliver; our people did not queue for an antidote for snake venom, nor did they need an orthopaedic surgeon to fix a broken bone.

Every home had a family herb man, who was responsible for the health of every family member. Whatever happened to our herbs? In countries that did not allow their colonisers to brainwash them, herbs are a multibillion-dollar industry.

They are not alternative health remedies, but an integral part of the health system. Here at home, we look down on the herbs that the country is blessed with.

Now look at the results! The country relies on imported medicines, and when we run out of stock due to a lack of money, the country’s health system collapses. That should not be the case.

The current economic situation is a wake-up call for the entire nation to rethink its purpose. A nation that does not feed itself cannot heal itself. Let us start with food security, then everything else will fall into place.

Now, that is a task for the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) to step up. But, I am afraid they have allowed foreign interests to ride roughshod over us.

For example, look at our indigenous seeds. We have lost our traditional and indigenous seed preservation methods. Farmers these days wait on the government to declare a ploughing seed, whereupon they are then dispatched to buy seeds from Seedco, or any other seed company.

The farmers don’t keep their own seeds; they have lost the indigenous varieties, which explains the rise in lifestyle diseases. These non-communicable diseases have everything to do with the type of food we eat, most of it being genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

And you can blame Monsanto for that, I say this tongue in cheek, because the former is a business entity solely engaged in commercial activity. If anything, the blame should go to governments that fail to regulate GMOs, governments that allow multinational corporations to dump counterfeit products into their countries!