Mr President, HE Khama,
I visited your country on the 19th of December 2016 via Martin's Drift border post. Over on the Botswana side the queue was very long and snaking out of the building. It was not moving at all and there was no presence of any apparent government authority moving on the precinct. Batswana citizens and foreign visitors were all in the same line. There were old people, sick people, mothers with babies standing and sitting there. The toilets were dirty and stinky. This does not give a good impression of country that I as an African would like to regard as an African success story. I think simple interventions such as separate lines for citizens and foreign visitors would expedite things. I write to request that you intervene, because, again last year in 2015 I travelled the same route and encountered inordinate and unexplained delays.
I pay tribute to two Batswana men who took it upon themselves to start organizing the queues and getting some order going. When asked if they were government officials, they said no, they were ordinary citizens who just wanted to get home to their families...they did not attempt to jump the queue, but patiently organized all of us. Those were my heroes.
You have a beautiful country and in fact it is those of us who come through this little borderpost, transiting through to Zambia, Zimbabwe and beyond who probably support the small businesses along the way, the small B&Bs on the outskirts of Francistown, the petrol pumps and road side cafes at Nata, the toilet entrepreneurs near Pandamatenga. In return we ask that your country's border posts be more hospitable...that queues be managed so that we travel during safe daylight hours (donkeys are a major hazard for night travel as you appreciate), that toilets (especially women's ablution facilities) be clean and free and available.
Thank you Mr Khama.
Yours sincerely
David R. Katerere, a fellow traveller & African
