It is a great pleasure for me to have
this opportunity to join my fellow Heads of State and
Government at the sixty-eighth session of the General
Assembly. We wish to offer our profound congratulations
and support to the President of the Assembly. We also
wish to express the Kingdom’s sincere appreciation to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his entire staff
for their efforts and the role they continue to play in
improving the working mechanisms of the United
Nations and for being such a good host.
The United Nations has brought hope to those who
are suffering, which is one of the pillars of its Charter.
The fundamental purpose of the United Nations is to
promote tolerance among humankind so that nations
can live together in peace with one another. We are
pleased that the United Nations has always worked
hard to promote and maintain international security,
and it has further taken positive action to prevent and
remove threats to the peace that humankind so desires.
We are also cognizant of the fact that humankind is
facing a test of unprecedented proportions in hotspots
that continue to pose a huge challenge for the United
Nations to address.
We have been deeply saddened by the senseless
killing of innocent people that took place this week
in Nairobi. We condemn such acts of terrorism in
the strongest terms. We send words of comfort to the
Government and the families who lost loved ones
through that tragic and senseless violence. The world
needs to stand together and wipe terrorism from the
face of the universe. We call upon those who support
such activities to cease from doing so forthwith.
We are also extremely disturbed by the deadly
conflicts in countries such as Syria, where innocent
people including women and children, are dying on
both sides, with some displaced now living as refugees
in other countries. We encourage all of the people of
Syria to immediately cease fire and use dialogue as a
means of solving their differences, because using the
barrel of a gun to settle a score will not help them;
instead, it will leave the Syrian people divided and not
seeing eye to eye. Infrastructure and social services
will be destroyed, leaving increased problems that will
have devastating effects for a very long time to come.
We trust they will soon find a peaceful resolution to
their crisis.
The findings of the United Nations mission on the
use of chemical weapons in Syria should be used as a
basis to chart a way forward in pursuit of the dismantling
of these unconventional weapons of mass destruction,
which pose a serious threat to humankind. As long as
chemical weapons continue to exist in that country, it
remains at risk of similar attacks, where nobody will
own up to them. Therefore, it is only proper that the
dismantling process begin with immediate effect to
prevent a similar attack in the future.
It is important that whatever action takes place in
Syria, it must fall within the mandate of the United
Nations. The United Nations must act quickly on those
issues and take a leading role in making sure that those
episodes where life is lost through the use of such
weapons are prevented.
It is important for leaders and Governments to
maintain contact and be in constant consultation with
their people at all times to avoid situations where leaders
do not understand the aspirations of their people. It is
imperative to create forums where people will have
access to Government to express themselves, because
a lack of such communication and detachment leads to
either Governments or the people reacting in a violent
manner towards the other.
The domino effect of such situations can lead to
an international crisis, as the problems of one country
can easily spiral into problems for others, which may
need to intervene. Such strife causes countries, as well
as the United Nations, to divert resources from the
objectives of socioeconomic development and channel
them towards financing conflict situations instead of
the welfare of the people.
The Kingdom of eSwatini is committed to a
process of consultation with the people at the People’s
Parliament — Sibaya — and other dialogue forums.
That practice is democratic and participatory in
that everybody is involved in key decision-making
processes.
Before I came to attend the General Assembly,
the Kingdom of eSwatini held a very successful and
peaceful election, which proved to be one of the most
successful we have had over the years. Some 40 per cent
of the Swaziland population were eligible to vote, and
70 per cent of them registered to do so in the elections.
The primary and secondary elections were also very
peaceful, free and fair, without any undue influence.
In the past, there had been only one day of voting,
but this year we had to extend voting for two days
during the primary and secondary elections. Our
elections embrace our traditions and culture, whereby
people from communities nominate people in their
chiefdoms to compete at constituency level, which
we call Tinkhundla. The winners then go straight to
Parliament as a direct representation.
As a result, the people are happy to be part of
the Government formulation process, because they
can claim ownership of the people who constitute the
Government of the day. It is in that vein that we trust
that the new parliamentarians will work very well with
the people in shaping the future of the Kingdom of
eSwatini, with a view to meeting their aspirations and
attaining the objectives of the Millennium Development
Goals.
We also note with interest the increased number
of observers in this year’s election. Regional and
international observers were highly impressed with our
elections. We therefore call upon the world to embrace
our system.
We are aware of the fact that many countries do
not understand how our system of government works.
We are happy to define our system as a monarchial
democracy. Monarchial democracy is defined as a
marriage between the monarchy and the ballot box.
The ballot box represents the will of the people. The
people provide advice and counsel to the King, and
that ensures transparency and accountability. It is a
combination of power and empowerment. It means that
the monarchy of eSwatini guarantees the continuity of
stability, and the democracy of eSwatini guarantees the
shared power of the people.
Therefore, the monarchy is married to the trust of
the people, who believe that the King does everything
in their best interests. It is home-grown; it easily
accords with the norms and values of the Swazis and is
therefore easily understood by all Swazis.
To those who proclaim that democracy is the
answer to all nations and their development, we present
ourselves as testimony of a new democratic ideology
that works. It has a place in modern-day democracy,
and it complies with all structures of the United
Nations family. The Kingdom of eSwatini is committed
to the ideals of the United Nations just as much as it
is dedicated to protecting its history, its legacy and
its dignity, while at the same time embracing the
opportunities and possibilities for cooperation within
the community of nations.
It is therefore the Kingdom of eSwatini’s position
that it believes in democracy as an idea, but not as an
ideal, because things that are ideal to some may not be
ideal to others. The Kingdom of eSwatini will, however,
continue to embrace the opportunities, the technologies
and the mechanisms that create a modern society.
Our ultimate goal is to have achieved first-world
status by 2022, or at least visible signs that we are
heading in that direction socially, economically and
otherwise. In the past five years, significant progress
has been made in the Kingdom towards poverty
eradication, improving the health of our people, and
infrastructure and agricultural development. We are
confident that we will see much more progress in the
next few years.
The kingdom of eSwatini has been implementing
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which
became effective in 2000 and most of which have a target
date of 2015. Good progress has been made in the areas
of education, gender, the empowerment of women and
malaria control. Although the country has implemented
a number of initiatives aimed at addressing the other
Millennium Goals, there is still a need to accelerate
efforts to address the issues of poverty, HIV and AIDS,
infant mortality and maternal health.
In order to solicit views on the post-2015 development
agenda, the Kingdom of eSwatini embarked on an
intensive consultative process. It involved a cross-
spectrum of stakeholders, including traditional leaders,
young people, women, men, the business community,
people with disabilities, faith-based organizations, civil
society organizations and different regiments.
On the goal of eradicating poverty, the nation
agreed that poverty was still a challenge and that
greater efforts were needed to address it. The poor
performance of the economy in recent years due to the
global financial crisis has contributed to the situation,
and therefore a great deal still needs to be done in that
regard.
As to providing quality education and lifelong
learning, the country has made significant progress
towards achieving universal primary education.
However, there is a need to focus, with the support of
the private sector, on the quality of education and to
introduce more vocational skills.
The Government has invested significantly in the
health sector. However, the burden of disease continues
to exist; hence that goal remains very relevant for the
people of eSwatini. The country is still faced with
the problem of HIV/AIDS, and therefore, in the post-
2015 development agenda, the pressure to address the
scourge as well as other, non-communicable diseases
should be maintained.
Ensuring food security and good nutrition remains
a priority and should feature prominently in the post-
2015 development agenda. However, the issue of
climate change continues to be a drawback to many
of our developing countries. Our food production has
been seriously affected by climate-change patterns and
the related challenges.
The provision of adequate financial resources and
the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and
technical assistance to developing countries are critical
if we are to achieve our global objectives. We therefore
appeal to our developed partners to honour the pledges
they have made to the Green Fund and the sustainable
development programme as a matter of priority. We
strongly believe that this could add the required
impetus in the context of our objective of increasing
food production.
The goal of achieving universal access to water and
sanitation is also important for the people of eSwatini,
since water is a very basic requirement for agricultural
and industrial production, as well as for domestic use.
Remarkable progress has been made in the area of
supplying potable water to households; coverage has
reached 71 per cent nationally.
The creation of jobs, sustainable livelihoods and
equitable growth is critical for the development of any
country and is linked to the goal of ending poverty.
Emphasis should be put on value addition, technology
transfer and the development of entrepreneurial skills,
particularly for young people. As a country, Swaziland
is fully behind the post-2015 agenda, because it remains
a guideline for the international community in working
together for the sustainable development of our
respective countries.
The issue of the reform of the Security Council
remains a top priority for the African continent. We are
calling for a Council that will give equal opportunities
to all regions of the world to voice their opinions as
an international family on issues regarding global
conflict. We believe our proposal is just and fair so that
as a region Africa can have a voice in the affairs of the
Council as equal partners in this global Organization.
The United Nations should continue to play its
advocacy role to ensure humankind continues to live
peacefully with each other. All nations around the
world should be given equal opportunities to share their
expertise and experiences with the Organization.
The Kingdom of eSwatini is happy to note that,
with solid international support and cross-Strait
developments, the Republic of China on Taiwan has
increased its meaningful participation in United
Nations specialized agencies and mechanisms. We
will continue to encourage positive interaction in the
international arena between the two sides of the Taiwan
Strait.
Finally, I hope that this session will come up
with the desired results and tangible targets. We also
look forward to a post-2015 agenda that will create a
conducive landscape for all humankind to live in.