WE’LL HAVE TO SMUGGLE IN VACCINES

Today, right this minute, if you want to knock back a few, you have only to go to certain places in your town or village and a six- pack will be taken out of the wardrobe with no hassle. Compare that with trying to get a Covid- 19 vaccine.

There have been two vaccination rounds for the above- 45 group but the vaccine runs out faster than mokoto at Independence Day celebrations at the kgotla. And when the vaccine does run out, the same government that bragged to the world about delivery of the vaccine consignment at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport suddenly goes radio- silent.

You will never see a press statement from the Ministry of Health and Wellness that says the vaccine has run out; you will only learn that when you show up at a vaccination site where people are supposedly being vaccinated.

Officially, it has become easier to get alcohol than the Covid- 19 vaccine and that may have to do with the way such commodities come into the country.

Like good dagga from southwestern Swaziland or Zimbabwean cigarettes, alcohol is currently being smuggled into Botswana. On the other hand, the vaccine comes in through legal channels. Let’s try smuggling the vaccine into the country because, apparently, things that are smuggled don’t ever run out. ans do that, are called hiking spots – like the Fire Hiking Spot in Sebele.

However, Gaborone’s cologned have started confusing us: on weekends they carry plastic sticks and say they are going “hiking” up hills that surround the city. How do you hike on a hill because there is no public road that passes through hills? And why would people who have cars, leave them at the foot of the hill and ask for a lift - “hike” in other words?

Why can’t they just use their own cars? And why do they have to hike with sticks when hikers merely need their hands to flag down passing cars?