THE POLITICS OF JOBSEEKING: WHEN PERSONAL AMBITION OVERRIDES PRINCIPLE, JUSTICE AND HUMANITY
by Nasson Msoni
It appears that every political jobseeker within the UPND is now upping their game, directing their full arsenal of criticism against former Botswana President Ian Khama.
The apparent objective is simple: to be seen, heard and recognised as a loyal defender of the principal, in the hope of securing a political appointment or retaining a position of privilege.
Those who have been hibernating in their cocoons of silence are suddenly emerging from political obscurity, finding their voices and shamelessly joining the chorus of attacks against President Khama.
For these political opportunists, principle is negotiable, conscience is expendable, and personal ambition takes precedence over everything else.
To be a jobseeker, you must apparently be merciless, politically blind and prepared to sacrifice truth at the altar of personal advancement.
To be a jobseeker, you need not concern yourself with whether an election was free, fair, rigged or stolen. Questions of electoral legitimacy become irrelevant when your overriding ambition is to secure an appointment.
To be a jobseeker, you must abandon independent thought, surrender your dignity and demonstrate unquestioning loyalty, regardless of the moral or political consequences.
To be a jobseeker, you must be willing to become a political mercenary, prepared to betray friends, abandon principles and sacrifice anyone who stands between you and your coveted appointment.
To be a jobseeker, you must apparently turn a blind eye to allegations of innocent lives being unjustly taken. The pursuit of political favour becomes more important than demanding accountability for the loss of human life.
To be a jobseeker, you need not show compassion for those who believe they have been unjustly imprisoned or for the families enduring the pain of their incarceration, including those held at Mukobeko Prison. Their suffering becomes a matter of political convenience rather than a question of justice.
To be a jobseeker, empathy becomes a liability, conscience an inconvenience and humanity an obstacle to personal advancement.
To be a jobseeker, you must applaud every action of the principal, even when constitutional amendments raise serious concerns about the erosion of democratic safeguards, the concentration of power and the weakening of national institutions.
You must be prepared to defend the indefensible, justify the unjustifiable and celebrate decisions that may ultimately undermine the very democracy you claim to support.
And perhaps most tragically, to be a jobseeker, you must surrender your moral independence and become a willing participant in the political destruction of the principles upon which your country was founded.
What makes this culture particularly disturbing is the apparent willingness of some individuals to trade their conscience for political recognition, their dignity for an appointment and their humanity for proximity to power.
There is nothing dishonourable about seeking employment or accepting public office. The disgrace begins when the pursuit of political appointment demands the abandonment of truth, justice, integrity and basic human decency.
Public service should be a calling to serve the people, not an auction in which conscience is sold to the highest political bidder.
IN A NUTSHELL
To be a political jobseeker of this kind, you apparently need neither a conscience nor a mind of your own. All that is required is unquestioning loyalty, selective outrage and an unlimited willingness to sacrifice principle for personal gain.
A nation is in serious trouble when political loyalty becomes more valuable than integrity, personal ambition outweighs justice, and the pursuit of a government job becomes more important than the dignity and rights of its citizens.
Power is temporary. Political appointments are temporary. But the consequences of betraying one’s conscience and one’s country can endure for generations.
No Sir! Not all the people critisizing former President Ian Khama are UPND looking for jobs. Some of us are past the need for a job Sir.