Broke and broken

DID you hear this one? It goes like this. A plane full of politicians crushes into a farm in Leribe. The farmer buries everyone on the plane. Three days later the farmer walks into a police station to report the incident.

He tells a policeman that he has already buried everyone.
Policeman: Were there any survivors?

Farmer: I am not sure but some of them claimed to be alive.
Policeman: So why didn’t you take them to the hospital?

Farmer: I could have done that but you know politicians lie a lot.

We know that politicians are pathological liars. But there are times when they take it to another level. In this election campaign, they have lied that they will build highways and hospitals.

They have promised jobs. We are told Lesotho will be a land of milk and honey. Phew! The latest lie from the government is about its financial crisis.

This week, the government has been telling civil servants that their salaries will be delayed due to technical problems. The reality is that the government is broke.

So to hide its poverty it says there are technical problems. There is nothing technical about being broke. Broke is broke no matter how much you technicalise it. You either have money or you don’t.

It’s not like the government is waiting for some payments from someone who bought its goats. It simply doesn’t have money. You don’t need to ask why because it’s obvious.

This government has been peeing on the private sector for years. The result is that there are less than 50 companies that pay substantial tax in Lesotho.

Did Muckraker say 30? Oops, she lied. She meant to say less than ten. The government pretends to be surprised by the drop in tax revenues yet it knows it is the main causer of the problem.

It has killed the private sector by delaying payments. When the payments do come some government officials cream off the little profits by demanding bribes.

Collecting payment is expensive because everyone on the system wants a cut. Those who don’t pay bribes have their invoices shoved to the pack of the queue.

We have a government that neglects the industry from which it expects to generate revenue.

Ours is a government that thinks the private sector can miraculously generate revenue and create jobs without creating an enabling environment.

It wants to collect revenue from companies it either doesn’t pay or denies opportunities through corruption.

A broke government that controls 40 percent of the economy cannot expect any revenue. It can’t and it will not. Holy dung!

Add the rampant thieving of state funds and you see why the government is broke. Technical problems? My foot!

Nka! Ichuuuuuuuuuuu!

muckraker.post@gmail.com