Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Constructing a Dynamic Swaziland
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Let us be real here!!!
Silo sikhulu we need to first acknowledge that the problem is bigger than the fiscal challenges we found our country in. I must say the playing field has not been level for a very long time for all Swazis to participate fully in the democratic process of the Kingdom of Swaziland. We must first create autonomous political institutions to realize political development. The institutions have to be capable and dynamic enough for us to enjoy political stability. Anywhere you go Ngwenyama instability is the evidence of poor governance. I hear Indvuna Babe T.V. Mtetwa calling on all marchers to disassociate politics with culture while from my perspective the royal hangers have used our culture to be elevated into positions of power. So how in the world can we expect the two in Swaziland to be separated? Some of those royal hangers have even gone to the extent of mocking God that He gave us a system that has landed our country into the current crisis we are in. Yes, as a nation we did choose Umculu so we need to seriously, completely, and absolutely obey God instead of taking His name in vain. Since now we are so religious in the King James Version in Exodus 20 verse 7 it reads, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.”
In order for Swaziland to experience transformation, members of the royal family, royal mongers, legislatures, commissioners and civic groups need to advise His Majesty with the absolute truth. As we do that we need to stop talking, and walk the talk with a clear concept of the absolute truth too. Let us be honest with ourselves and admit that poor governance has swept over our beautiful Kingdom like a bush fire. Our elders have failed dismally to counsel His Majesty. Instead they have instilled a sense of deference to the citizens of Swaziland to intimidate them into silence. We have heard enough unfruitful dialogues attended by the same ‘old wine in new bottles.’ We are in desperate need of a dynamic political system that will respond to the changing times. We cannot modernize only the pockets of those members of the Swaziland National Council, Ludzidzini Libandla, and Commissions, we need to modernize our political system too. Inkhosi lamuhla itsenga liciniso paying exorbitant salaries to people who should be using their arms and brains to earn a living. Those serving in such entities should get imbasha for attending counseling sessions. In order to realize growth these entities should be diverse so that His Majesty receives different views from every corner of our society. Honestly, we cannot realize growth while sticking to our old ways of doing things. The only thing constantly changing is salary structures to those who do not want to use their talents to earn a living.
We need to build a legitimate and credible national political infrastructure to resolve the current fiscal crisis by first removing the contentious Circular No. 1 of 2010 and then trim all the Emabandla, Government Ministries and Commissions that do not add value to our country. After 43 years there is still nothing to celebrate except our cultural heritage, which has been abused by royal mongers. Resources, power, and honours are still under exclusive control of one group that changes faces every five years to deceive Swazis that we have a new government. These are the same people suffering from political arrogance and selfishness. The relationship between those in power and those being ruled should always be legitimate.
The Tinkhundla system of government has been abused to the extent that Swazis have turned their backs on it. Tinkhundla in the first place was a great concept for service delivery purposes only. Those who have defended Tinkhundla for a long time will argue that Swaziland has a direct democracy, which can be true in theory, but practically is not the case as it lacks transparency and democratic values. Transparency and accountability are the pillars of a democratic society. The Senior Prince Mahlaba even went to the extent of saying God gave us this system. Lord have Mercy! Our system was born out of the traditional institutions, there were Vuselas that went around to promote Tinkhundla system of government. People were not educated about any other systems, so let us not pretend as if the Swazi Nation was educated on multi-party system. I am not in any way advocating for multi-partyism because, to me, good governance is good governance not matter what the system is. I simply value human dignity and communal institutions. My question to Prince Mahlaba: If God gave us that system, why are we still suffering from political instability, poverty, as well as inadequate infrastructure? Please Gwalagwala refrain from associating a failing system with a deity as the dissolution of our ancestors’ institutions and values led us to this confused state of affairs due to the absence of the original dignitaries.
I find it very interesting that traditionalists are always referring to some deity every time the going gets tough, the very religion that was used by missionaries to control our societies, and the very religion that was used by slave masters to enslave our people. How long are we going to take the name of the Lord in vain? One Scholar Robert W. Jackmain once said, “Traditional organizations gain their authority from the perceptions that they have always been there.” We should not be fooled to accept an immoral system ravaged with corruption because of its age and deity connection. The bible I read in John 10:10 proclaimed that God said “He has come so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly.” How can you claim that God gave us a system so that we may suffer, and suffer forever? That is Absurd! I am not part of the new class of kleptocrats who enact roles in our society that we are unfamiliar with. I refuse to accept the notion that traditional structures are not good enough to cater for the modern world. We the people are the ones getting twisted. In order to achieve a democratic society that values development and stability, we need to change.
Since the scripture has been misquoted by our elders for a very long time, let me be clear here just like our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ sharing His purpose and His relationship with those that He came to seek and save. In John 10:11 Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” I must admit I have seen His Majesty working tirelessly hard to transform our country, but those around him have watered down all his efforts. His Majesty has always showed the love of this country and has even adopted an open door policy for people to come and share their thoughts and insights on any topic, but those around him have become gate-keepers yet as a nation we are supposed to go to the King anytime to Kwembula Ingubo. We also need tricenarians and quadragenarians around the King and in executive positions if we are to meet the millennium goals. We need people who have been appointed by merit and also approved by the Swaziland Parliament. The domination of sexagenarians, septuagenarians, and octogenarians in positions of power needs to come to an end if we are to experience change and reach the status of a developed country in the near future. For us to experience change and sustain growth we need to overhaul the whole system. We cannot wait for the IMF, World Bank, European Union, AfDB, and the Republic of South Africa to civilize us.
We need an entrepreneurial government and a constitution that will be respected and interpreted with ease. In enlightened society governments are working hard to transform their countries instead of erecting barriers to economic development. Unless our out-of-control and out-of-touch government is brought to order, it will continue to inadvertently blame the crisis we found ourselves in to the global financial meltdown (GFM). In all honesty we were never a player in the global world sphere as we depended heavily on SACU instead of being innovative. Even now our government has failed to install an independent communication authority to regulate our telecommunications, postal services, and the broadcasting services sector. In a small country such as ours we should always have our house in order and gain grounds on service industries faster than our neighbours. Our telecommunication infrastructure is very poor yet we are trying to connect to the global world. We need people who have the business and technical know-how to lead our country’s critical positions in both public and private sector. As a nation we are tired of excuses. We need young, intelligent, and talented Swazis to lead the way as we are standing on the threshold of the information age and dynamic society with an obsolete set of tools.
Seeing the theme (Focusing on Productivity to Contribute to Economic Recovery) of the Swaziland International Trade Fair 2011 my heart melted, as it sounded so great and deep, but with the previously unseen dimension of frustration, dissatisfaction, and unhappy civil society, I am not sure of any improvement. One of the goals of the current illegitimate government should have been to make sure that government employees feel valued. We can talk about Mafia in different area codes, but I suspect the most dangerous and unrealistic Mafia is at the Capital Hill. I must say with this Mafia is either you dance with him or be shipped out via DHL. Wena Waphakathi ife enhloko yahulumende so change is inevitable, we need the Lion to roar.
There were golden years prior to 1996 when the SACU formula adjustment story started circulating. The current PM was in charge so why didn’t he ever take that opportunity to overhaul our way of doing things and spending? Ewu Mbangazitha sevele sekhuta lwandle sala baya ngasekhaya they have failed our nation, stolen our resources, and gave given our hard-earned money to their business partners to invest. The information age and dynamic society demand a certain crop of leaders with vision, and driven by the realities of the global society, not egos. As our economy shifts more and more to an information age era, we need creative and innovative minds to steer the ship in the right direction. Silo Sikhulu, Yes the Kingdom is not there by choice, one thing I know we are falling behind in the information revolution.
The administration is in denial about the governance problems our country is facing. Before we even begin to look for solutions to the current situation we must individually and collectively come to our senses about the severity of the problem. Ngwenyama I won’t make you purchase the truth as it is obvious we have a governance problem. We are always wasting millions of emalangeni to cross the finish line the soonest, only to discover that the finish line was a mirage. The current cabinet has failed Wena Waphakathi, it lacks a clear vision of what you are trying to do and the direction the country should be going. We have heard enough rhetoric, with success in transforming the Kingdom remaining a mystery. I just thought about Gresham’s Law, which says bad currency drives out good, and the philosophy behind it is relevant to the story of Swaziland. Alan Cooper said “If there are two currencies, people will hoard the good one and try to spend the bad one.” Right now in Swaziland the arrogant and bad cabinet is in power. I think we can do better than that by using our young, educated, and talented Swazis in executive positions.
From my perspective, this is the failure of the Swazi National Council (SNC) ayikutjeli liciniso Ngwenyama as they live in fear of being victimized by their colleagues or being labeled as bakhohlisi. For the country to move forward we need an inclusive SNC appointed from various sectors of the society and be approved by parliament. They will have to go through an approval process and should not be more than seven since they want to be paid salaries instead of sitting allowances. We need descriptive, realistic, and measurable goals for the advisory body in order to realize a successful economic recovery. We should also change our behaviors and priorities. Mbangazitha we could have creative ideas and resources, but if our priorities are still off the limits we won’t realize our potential. My suggestions for our economic recovery:
1. Swaziland has a lot of young, educated and talented citizens so we need to shift our focus to service industry (financial services, information technology, tourism, insurance, hospitality, healthcare, tertiary, etc)
2. Realign government ministries to 10 and the principal secretaries run those ministries as we do not need a cabinet in our small country. We need an executive council to serve as the Kingdom of Swaziland collective head of government. The executive council shall be appointed and confirmed by both Houses of Parliament.
3. Grow private sector and give low tax rates. Private enterprises are capable of developing a sustainable economy, unlike state owned enterprises that are always looking to the government for cash to sustain their existence.
4. Focusing on developing our policies so that Swaziland is an investor friendly environment or foreign investors’ destination.
5. Reform our education at tertiary level so that it is entrepreneurial
6. Develop science and technology infrastructure
7. Allow other telecommunications corporations in the Swaziland market
8. Present a detailed itemized budget to parliament so that we know where the money is going and they debate something that is in the open.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
How Long? How Long? How Long?
The governments effort to invoke God in the midst of their mess is totally unacceptable and to liken the labor movements to the devil was arrogant at its best. The people being brutalized are mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers they deserve utmost respect from the naïve government. Now to our government for continuously ignoring the grievances from taxpayers, if accountability and transparency is valued in the Capitol Hill why not address them or resign then since addressing them is beyond your reach. Truly speaking the government should be accountable to the citizens of the country, yet ours seems to be accountable to themselves as they continue to enrich their families from the scarce resources.
It would be interesting to engage our Prime Minister Barnabas S. Dlamini and Minister Lutfo Dlamini on a way forward. The two keep on telling lies about what the people want and when the very same people who participated in the constitution formation are being deprived the very right to organized. This is spelled out in the constitution of Swaziland about people being allowed to associate. Now that right is being taken away from them in such an inhuman activities. The armed forces are paid for by the tax payers resources and today they turn around and brutalize them. To watch the Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula flanked by his executive team telling lies in public was crazy. Who are we going to trust if the people who took oath can fib like this – Nkosi Sikelel’ i Swaziland. The place for such character is behind the prison walls as they talk about terrorists, in the country we do not have to look too far Mbabane Police Headquarters and the Capitol Hill is where they are.
It is hard to understand people who unleash police like dogs to go after their own people. Its absurd! Today Swaziland has been turned into a police state just because you cannot accommodate those of different views. In a dialogue setting people voice their opinions, debate, agree, disagree, but at the end of the dialogue there must be some form of agreements being reach. In most cases people do not agree so in that case through compromise then settle on something. The Swazi Government cannot have it all. If the government respects the voices of the Swazi people then they should have resigned long time ago instead of hiding behind royalty. Both house of parliament have been telling you to resign because you have failed the Swazi nation. How long are we going to live like this? Being oppressed by few individuals guarding their own space so that they continue to loot the confers of the government.
Barnabas’ government is setting up members of the royal family against the public. The truth is the truth so to the Cabinet ministers the best thing for you to do is resign and go to your respectful Chiefdoms and let your Umphakatsi know that you have failed the oath you took in parliament. It is obvious the government does not understand what is going on and have no clue on the way forward. The country needs women & men who will step up to the challenge and transform the country. We have witnessed so many people being frustrated for bring innovative from former SPTC MD E. Nathi Dlamini to Kings Private Secretary Sam Mkhombe. Nathi transformed SPTC to a stable and profitable entity, Mkhombe wanted to conduct a study so he learn from those who were involved in the Imbokodvo National Movement, Umlangeni Mathendele was sacrificed for listening and being invited to partake in the study, so many people have been sacrificed for their vision and leadership. The country needs transformational leaders with vision and best interest of the country.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Govt will have it tough to escape international spotlight
By Alec Lushaba - Weekend Observer, July 18, 2009
At the height of political challenges that faced the country back in the mid 90s, Sive Siyinqaba Sibahle Sinje Cultural Organization came up to defend the State against what was perceived lies and negativity.
That allowed government to engineer a political process that eventually led to the current Constitutional dispensation.
Today, about 14 years later, the same pressure is put to bear by the same poilitical and labour forces calling for multi-party democracy.
Sive Siyinqaba has now, under the new political dispensation, transformed itself into a National Movement calling for more transparency in the governance of the country.
Marwick Khumalo, the organisation’s Secretary General, gives his views about the obtaining political environment and expresses great concern at people who claim to love the country but hate it.
In a wide ranging interview, Khumalo, who is also Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament, had this to say about the current negativity and political spotlight Swaziland finds itself in today;
Name calling
The country’s political cadre needs to regroup to look at the obtaining situation from an objective position. What destroys this country is that we are quick at labelling each other, as if belonging to a political party is criminal. Some people are lazy to think and they choose not to exercise their ingenuity. I say because, we at Sive Siyinqaba come from extreme positions – we have hardcore conservatives, we have moderates and to a lesser extent, we have liberals. Coming from these extremes, we end up coming to a certain agreement or position. The nature of the position we take, we do so not to please a certain clique or group but for the betterment of our movement.
“The current position, therefore, needs all of us to analyse so that we can reach a political solution, if we are to do with all these negativity we get as a country.”
Malawi experience
“What is important now is where do we take the country – for example, Malawi has been an economic basket of thisProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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egion for a decade now. One man came in and put in place the right systems within a space of five years against much resistance. The party he now leads, he formed whilst in Parliament, following clashes with his own previous political party – that is President Bingu wa Mtharika. He continued without a political party until he formed one.
Today, Swaziland and the region is receiving maize from Malawi. The man alone was able to put the right systems in place. A person can make positives in a country if that person has clear policies in mind.
“The current Prime Minister Dr. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, with all the experience he has acquired both internationally and locally as the Prime Minister, has had the opportunity to make a post-mortem of his own tenure. It is very rare in political circles to have such an opportunity. Winston Churchill, one of the revered Prime Ministers Britain ever had, had such an opportunity as well. He had served for two consecutive terms and retired and the British people recalled him after some other time and the day he left, Queen Elizabeth II said it was a sad day for England to lose a man like him.
“Now, I am saying this is the legacy you would want to leave as a person.”
Government alone can’t battle against political parties
“As Sive Siyinqaba, we note the upsurge of the things that unfolded in 1996 that made us to stand up then and I am saying, government alone cannot win this battle against the political parties.
“Am saying that because it is very difficult for a government to win the battle against the call for political parties in a sea or surrounded by countries with political parties, particularly with the influence of South Africa.
“This is the time those who perceive themselves to be enemies, is the time to regroup, those who don’t believe in violence in violence tactic is the time to sit down and talk, those who really think they have a space of Swaziland at heart, not for self-interest and trying to appease the powers that be, is time to meet and exchange ideas.
“Not because you are driven by ill-will but with all good intentions.
Constitution doesn’t ban political parties:
“I agree with the observations of Prince Logcogco Mangaliso on the Constitution allowing people to associate but with all due respect, I will humbly disagree that even us at Sive Siyinqaba are now as members do it in a clandestine manner.
“Within the House and outside the House, such that it is only those of us who know who are our members in the entire government structure! It is not safe. Not everyone is politically strong. There are those of us who say, I belong to Sive Siyinqaba. I am the Secretary General of the organisation and then it is either you live with me or you don’t, but I am not ashamed of being one.
“If by so being, I cannot be anything in government, at least I have the pleasure and honour of being elected by people of Lobamba Lomdzala knowing – (that is very important) knowing very well that I am the Secretary General of Sive Siyinqaba but still elect me as their representative.
Transformation
“What is important is that let us not beat about the bush, we at Sive Siyinqaba, we have issued a statement contributing to the good of the country. As I have said, some people have criminalised people thinking in a non-conventional manner probably – this is not correct. We are all not made the same. Even those who claim to be opposed to us, I know them – they are fakes. I know some of them who have been appointed by the King to positions – the minute he does not do so, they become sworn enemies and these are people who start to see that everything about the system is wrong. I have discussed with quite a number of them, but at the time they are appointed by the King, everything was well and anyone calling for multi-party was satanic but they are now calling for multi-party.
“You never got to have a genuine person. This country is made of fakes – people are faking too much, they are not sincere. Those people who are faking will not stand for the truth – they will disappear and run away.
Sive Siyinqaba position:
“What we are saying with regards to the issue of political parties and elections is that whilst we appreciate that our system allows for individuals to be elected on merit, we are saying those who wants to be elected on the platform of their political groups should also be allowed. We must not have a law that outlaws their participation in the national elections just because they have made a choice to stand on a political party platform.
“Like every association they have to be registered and legalised properly. It is not good to allow them to exists but deny them the right to stand for an election.
“To say that Sive Siyinqaba is calling for multi-party is absolute nonsense. All we are saying is we are not going to play as if we don’t understand what the world is saying but can’t we as Swaziland come to the same table and live side by side. I can tell you that we are now being pushed into a tight corner where terms of transformation will be dictated to us.
“Even if they are only two people calling for this, they deserve to be listed to.
“There have been countries in the region, Mozambique, who did not want multi-party because they believe it is divisive, violent and all that but they had no choice but ended up having them in order to have political stability. They are now a haven for investment. Their economic growth has been growing at nine percent. They are coming from an era of a one party state. The same was happening in Tanzania. They went to the referendum and voted for one party state, but because the leadership of Tanzania saw what the world was playing at, chose to have multi-parties and Chama chama Mapinduzi has continued to reign freely.
I am saying, those people who I describe as fake and not honest to the leadership of this country, if the King would wake up today and say there will be multi-party democracy in Swaziland, all those who have been resisting it would side with him and hail his decision.
“Politics need people who are steadfast and principled. Sive Siyinqaba is not calling for multi-party democracy, all we are saying is that let us be realistic and pragmatic. Let’s appreciate the calibre of our people who are able to think freely.
“Are we not disturbed that after sending delegation after delegation outside looking for investment we have come back with nothing but promises? It should worry us why after all these promises, we see no results.
“This country is gold – what is derailing us is a small thing. All it requires, for an example, is for the country’s authority to give the Prime Minister power to lead its own political party, the same way it was done with Prince Makhosini and go and get the mandate from the people, I can tell you that party can triumph in the election.
“However, if we continue not to be pro-active and the negativity about the country grows, it will find it hard to convince the electorate come the next election.
“It is not entirely correct to say that there is freedom of association in this country. We at Sive Siyinqaba knowing very well that we are vilified in certain quarters of this country. Some people have decided to ignore what we did back in 1996.
Sive Siyinqaba programmes
“In every situation, be it political or otherwise, we study it and analyse what is happening.
“Every month we meet as an Executive to review the situation. Right now, we are working towards having our own conference. We have studied the current political environment with the advent of the new government, we are analysing the status quo. I can tell you that Sive Siyinqaba is not an evil organisation and thank God we seem not to have evil-hearted people within the leadership of the organisation.
“We don’t have room for hatred, something that we have actually witnessed within certain
“Elements of the establishment - our focus is on the good Swaziland. What concerns us is the good of Swaziland, Tinkhundla or multi-party we don’t have a problem. Where compromises have to be made, let us do so, so that the world can see that here is Swaziland talking to itself and making compromises. But you can only make compromises when you are able to talk. The picture that we have is not good one – it is a manmade picture which is so easy to correct.
Meeting with the King
Without divulging my discussions with His Majesty the King – let me say that there is nothing new in me discussion multi-partism. I have discussed with him the political situation that obtained pre-independence. In my recent meeting with the King after being removed as Speaker, we have not discussed political parties. There was a time where he invited me to comeback to discuss politics. I have not yet had that opportunity to discuss politics. The last time I did was in my first term in Parliament.
I cannot say from the other interactions we have had that politics was on the menu.
King is for everyone
The King is for everyone. In England, it is said Her Majesty’s Government and Her Majesty’s Opposition.
Here at home, anyone who criticises the government is seen as anti-Monarchy. They are actually undermining the authority of the King because all people are his.
Progressive forces
“It is a pity that our airwaves in this country don’t promote political debate. I would like to challenge those who see things differently from our organisation. At Sive Siyinqaba we are not a political wing of either government or the establishment – no! The government has no attachment to any organisation. If the airwaves were to be opened up, as Secretary General of Sive Siyinqaba I would like to discuss the issues with PUDEMO or any political group.
“It is true that the world will listen to those who make the most noise than what comes from the establishment. In order to counter that as a government you need to have a similar entity to do it on your behalf.
“Our government does not even a politician who can stand up against this negativity going around against the country. I cannot even start of the Press Secretariat which is lacking in political clout or its understanding of crucial political issues is shallow.
“You need people with strong characters.
Fakes destroying the country
“I am afraid the attention we have dodged in the passed has comeback and I don’t see it going away this time around. There is an item in the EU on Swaziland. We all wish well for this country. This country is destroyed by people who are faking.
“Let me tell you, serious political issues are not discussed in open debates like Parliament. Strategies are discussed behind the scenes.
“Government should worry about engaging stakeholders in the region that matter. It will catch up with us if we don’t do anything.”
http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=5842
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Hegemonic Leadership’s Failure to Transform Swaziland
The government is even failing to accept the reality that the state revenues is laying on life support and donor pockets are deflating at an alarming rate, thus calling for Socratic and transformative servant leadership not driven by self-interest. Socratic and transformative servant leadership embraces democracy and technological advancement and promotes transparency and accountability. They understand that they are stewards of the country’s resources by committing to greater integrity and tighter control of public funds, and understand that there is a direct correlation between governance and prosperity. Thus, we need a responsible government, ready to use available resources to shape the country’s economy. We cannot make excuses for corruption any more, that time is up. President Obama said, “countries that are governed well, that are stable, where the leadership recognizes that they are accountable to the people and that institutions are stronger than any one person have a track record of producing results for the people.”
There is no time to splash money on luxury trips while people are suffering from all kinds of ailments, hospitals not properly functioning, schools not properly equipped, government failing to make education affordable to everyone, etc. I believe our PM and Cabinet Ministers should put a freeze on those luxury trips taken by government officials and those associated with the current regime with no benefits for the country except their full stomach. Our government should be bringing in new talents if they are to realize the power of entrepreneurial government, instead of shuffling the same people in different positions. We need to explore new kinds of institutions that are non-bureaucratic, lean, innovative and decentralized. We need an entrepreneurial type of government to transform our beautiful kingdom. Time for hegemony is up. Marxist Philosopher Antonio Gramsci defined hegemony as the dominance of one social class over other social classes or the dominance of one political unit over other units. This is a wake-up call to bring in transformative servant leadership, which embrace shared governance and understand the importance of engaging all stakeholders. The current Administration need to be committed to democracy and find ways to integrate all communities or political groups to share authority and stop acting like they have a fiduciaries obligation to the non-democratic principles for their survival. Thus, the administration needs to continuously grow, listen, build and improve all the constituencies regardless of their affiliation. Freedom of association is important for citizens to nurture their independence of thought and become active global citizens. Yes, shared governance does come with cost, but is very important that is respected and practiced in order to successfully transform the country.
This is the time for our government to ask the following questions:
• Are we doing enough for the development of the country?
• Realistically, can we compete in the global sphere with the current institutions?
• Why are we losing our young and talented citizens?
• Why is our constitution being violated everyday?
• Why there is nobody who can come out clean and interpret the constitution?
• Why are citizens’ freedom of expression being violated?
• Why are we not learning from their dissatisfaction?
Time for “iloyali” is over, we cannot afford to stand still. The country is still far behind in residential broadband speed, penetration, or affordability. It is high time that we adopt a transformative system of governance to drive our economy and improve the state of the citizens. There should be an aggressive national economic strategy coupled with innovations driven by the young and talented instead of telling them to go and develop other countries. The University of Swaziland should wake up and get involved and empower students with entrepreneurial form of education instead of making them moving database of information. The four critical areas the country needs to invest in: scientific and information technology driven skills development, telecommunications, health, education, and building sustainable commercial infrastructure. The country needs to place emphasis on technology-driven education system in order to produce high quality skilled Information Technologists and Scientists. There is also a great need for the country to consider both rural and urban landscapes while trying to implement technologically driven services to add value in the country.
The people tasked with the implementation of ICT are digital immigrants are failing to even implement current web applications in their own backyards, thus failing to even utilize systems that could cut cost and make funds available for projects to transform the country. The government has been adding ministries and appointing those close to the kingdoms echelons to be in charge of those fattening ranches. Citizens’ protest stem from the creation of government driven programs that fails to adhere to democratic principles and values, which violates people’s right to freedom of participation. The country have hosted all kinds of dialogues with the hope to address the state of the economy and transform the country, but results have been those close to the echelons getting contracts and become rich overnight and on top of that rewarded with high profile positions. Ministries added at the expense of taxpayers hard earned money.
Swaziland is a small country, surrounded by one of the thriving economies in the world. Instead of adding ministries there should be developing the newly created ministry of ICT and merged “Commerce Industry and Trade” and “Economic Planning & Development” , “Natural Resources and Energy” and “Public Works and Transport” , “Public Service” and “Labor and Social Security.” That’s what would have been governments prove for observing fiscal prudence by targeting priority areas and keep the budget deficits at its lowest. Instead we are busy making the wrong investments sending people all over the world on luxury trips. It is high time we recognize the current economic situation in the country and try to implement ICT to transform the country's socio-economic conditions. Those who have the technical know-how, and understand the value of technology and speak the digital language should lead the transition.
There is a need for transformative leadership, which embraces shared governance and understands the existence of different communities. The violation of the principles of shared governance is what we see across the country as unions and students’ organizations resolve to violence. The police force is not helping the situation. Their hegemonic behavior fuel the violation of human rights. In Gramscian sense those who aspire to hegemony must govern to some degree on behalf of the constituencies they serve. I repeat we need an Aristocratic type of leadership, which embraces democratic principles. The administration should use their power to emancipate all Swazis, instead of making us internalize their ideals. In short the government should partner and start a dialogue with all stakeholders to revolutionize our country.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Positivism? Objectivism? NO! Relativism? Constructivism? YES!
In an open-ended and collaborative environment students develop their problem solving skills and nurture their independence of thought through experiential learning. Learners have been on the receiving end for a long time and in some cases even today they are still treated, as pupils not even students, yet knowledge uniquely constructed. Even though Reiser & Dempsey (2007) claim that positivism has been a cornerstone perspective of the instructional design, still suffers from lack of direct engagement and involvement of learners to construct knowledge. The learner should negotiate the meaning in an effort to construct knowledge, which will empower them for the rest of their lives. The purpose of the classroom should be to empower global citizens instead of making them a bank of information. Learners should be treated like living organisms that grow and making decisions about their future.
Transforming knowledge from the outside to inside the learner could cause memory overload. Educators should embrace constructivism theorem and take the learner-centered environment as an alternative pedagogical strategy to reach out to all students with different learning styles so that all students can reach their full potential instead of being receivers. Especially today there are different “multi-user virtual environments (MUVE)” that has “the ability to leverage the authentic learning conditions that are hard to cultivate in a traditional classroom settings.” (Griffin, 1995). Sheingold & Frederiksen(1994) state, “MUVEs open up a new world of possibilities for creating learning experiences that not only are authentic, situated, and distributed, but also provide a context to change our standards by which student achievements are judged and the methods by which students’ accomplishments are assessed.”
The processes of constructing constructivist learning environment are no systematic, they value the fact that learning is not a linear process. Our understanding is that learning is interdisciplinary, thus most educators have valued liberal arts education. The only concern with it is the failure of academician to explain explicitly the importance of taking a history class while in an engineering school, taking a language while in the physics department. The constructivist learning environment support active learning, learned-centered environment, and problem-based learning, collaborative environment, and a space to socialize and build relationships. Collaborative environments accommodated the limits of the working memory as they encourage engagement and management of load on working memory. The problem of overloading students working memory is the loss of interest and the active cognitive processing is affected greatly (Sweller, 1988; Sweller, 1989; Mousavi at al., 1995). Having open-ended environments that supports constructivists design activities provide multiple point of communication thus creating a community of learners as learning and construction of knowledge occurs when learners interact with some content to construct shared meaning (Damer, 1997; Damer et al., 1999; DiPaola & Collins, 2002).
The objectivists believe that knowledge exists independently of the learner is a misleading concepts because learning involves human reasoning and decision-making. There is no way that knowledge can be built from outside then transferred to the learner. As learners are becoming more involved with social networks there is a great need to even engage those virtual environments in creating interactive activities to facilitate learning. The constructivists ideology of objects and events having no absolute meaning is correct, as interpretations and meaning depends on individuals’ experience (Reiser & Dempsey, 2007). Through the collaborative environment learners share different perspectives, which may cause conflict among each other as learners go through the process of resolving cognitive conflict learners advance their cognitive development (Rogoff, 1990). Learners could be empowered with a new method of solving a problem or even understand it different.
In conclusion we truly believe the constructivist learning theory covers a lot of ground and provide learners a platform construct knowledge and meaning through their different experiences. Experience definitely plays a major role in knowledge construction as learners try to make sense of new information. Learning is an active and non-linear process rather than passive process. Kanuka and Anderson (1998) asserted that we construct knowledge based on what we know. The role of an educator should be to facilitate the process, by helping learners to organize information in order to engage student’s interest (Hanley, 1994). Overall the constructivist environment is learner-centered and makes students to participate in their cognitive development.
Brooks and Brooks (1993) suggested the following characteristics of constructivist teacher:
• Become one of many resources that the student may learn from, not the primary source of information.
• Engage students in experiences that challenge previous conceptions of their existing knowledge. 1
• Allow student response to drive lessons and seek elaboration of students' initial responses. Allow student some thinking time after posing questions. 1
• Encourage the spirit of questioning by asking thoughtful open-ended questions. Encourage thoughtful discussion among students. 1
• Use cognitive terminology such as "classify," "analyze", and "create" when framing tasks. 1
• Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative. Be willing to let go of classroom control. 1
• Use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive physical materials. 1
• Don't separate knowing from the process of finding out. 1
• Insist on clear expression from students. When students can communicate their understanding, then they have truly learned.
Transformative and Engaging Learning Environment
The new technology applications like facebook, wikis, twitter, virtual environments and other collaborative softwares demand innovative ways to engage learners who have had influence of the digital wave. It is important for educators to understand how the electronic communication, Web and gaming technology have changed the way learners learn and socialize. Today, learners are more content with text messaging, emailing and instant messaging, they use these platforms intensely. Educators have the duty to influence their teaching styles with this electronic media in order to keep learners interested. It is imperative for them to understand some of the classroom organizational dynamics that makes a class boring and less engaging. Once educators have that understanding and have their teaching methods in-line with students’ way of doing things then they could give them the most coveted and elusive educational experience. Just because educators are digital immigrants, that does not mean they have to stay out of touch with the current trends in the application of technology-driven instructions. Even though time and other resources are scarce, following some of the “first instructional principles” there is no way to get around them, they are as important. Good instructional activities can transform students’ way of thinking and understanding of abstract concepts and theories presented to them. Some of the measures of motivational instructional activities are engagement, and the creation of social communities, through collaborative learning.
New generation tent to socialize on virtual environments, which can have negative effects on their personal growth. Teachers should be innovative in their quest to help students develop skills and construct knowledge. The availability of social media and interactive technology open up innovative ways of engaging students in the classroom by creating a transformative classroom environment. The face-to-face interaction and digital devices inside the classroom enable learners to collaboratively work together to solve problems and promote human interaction. Thus it is important for educators to find the balance between the classroom and all the technology-driven media. Before any design of instructional activity designers should analyze the instructional theories and models available to them, to extract the first principle, identify the cognitive processes associated with each principle and then identify the empirical support for the principle (Merrill, 2002)
As we continue on this journey to effective instructional design activities, we need to find ways to measure how the activities motivate and improve learners’ performance. In order for motivation to be in effect, the classroom should challenge learners’ curiosity, invention and creativity. According to Marc Prensky (2002) reason game players say they enjoy playing games is because of the following: challenging (79 %), relieve stress (55 %), entertainment (49 %) and social activity (38 %). Looking at the numbers and thinking about the population that plays games, definitely educators have a big challenge of educating this game playing generation. Learners should be engaged in their educational experience. Engagement can be described as attracting and occupying the attention of a person or involving someone’s interest or attention. Merrill (2002) suggests that we investigate the following areas: cognition and mental models, knowledge objects and instructional design models. In Merrill’s first principle of instruction, states that learning is facilitated when learner is engaged in solving real-world problems, new knowledge built on learner existing knowledge, knowledge application by the learner, and the integration of new knowledge to learner’s world.
For an instruction to be motivational, learners should feel a sense of connectedness: friendships, cohesion, interdependence among other learners, and have confidence (Alfred, 2002). The state of flow is another factor towards motivation. Mihaly (1990) defined it as a mental state of intense concentration and accomplishment of goals with great deal of pleasure. The classroom activities should fully support students’ engagement. Some of the important factors in a flow state in reference to games are Mihaly (1990):
• Enormous reward when player is doing well
• Not making things too hard to frustrate the player
• Not making things too easy
• Achieve something unexpectedly
The same thing applies with instructional design we have to design instructions that reward students for their hard work, incorporate memorable characters, make learners understand the goal of the activity and then make it challenging to achieve it. If such has been incorporated not only they will facilitate learning, but will also reinforce theories and concepts learned. In our class we could also incorporate the principles of good gaming (Prensky, 2002) which are as follows: motivation, flow, social groups, ego gratification, enjoyment, intense passionate and involvement. As Keller and Litchfield (2007) assert we should not equate motivation with entertainment and fun. There should still be rules imposed to limit learners from just playing for pleasure without achieving the goal of the instruction. Throughout the instruction learners should receive feedback and demonstrate results that they understand the goals of the instruction and achieving them. There should be consequences of every move positive or negative, as feedback is known to promote continuous learning. The instruction should also promote interaction among the learners and facilitators.
Motivational instructions should transform learners’ perception about the classroom, as a place to torture them with information. It should spark a great word of mouth and encourage them to reflect on what they have learned. Marc Prensky (2002) provide seven factors of engaging games:
• They give players intense and passionate involvement
• They spark players creativity
• They give players enjoyment and pleasure
• They give players flow
• They give players motivation
• They give players structure
• They give players adrenaline
Motivation is one of them and the same factors should apply inside the classroom full of learners that are technologically stimulated. The classroom should be a place to empower and transform learners view. In order to successfully understand the importance of motivation some assessment should be performed before, during, and after the instructional activity.
