This week the plan was to write about our judiciary which is operating under immense pressure that if not urgently addressed could lead to implosion of the institution.
There is no overemphasizing the fact that when it comes to our democracy the judiciary is the last line of defence.
Admittedly, a groundswell of undercurrents is beginning to send redflags that the judiciary might not be as clean as it used to be, certainly not as many of us want to make it to be.
There are also signs that after some resistance, the institution is now yielding to executive overreach.
While our judges deserve some sympathy for the political abuse they are subjected to, but also on account of highly polarized public discourse they are operating under, it is just as important to revisit the appointment criteria for these judges.
Most worrying is the now blurred line between the judiciary and the executive.
Our expansionist executive that is forever broadening its frontiers has meant that the judiciary is no longer as detached from the executive as it should be.
That subject matter, important as it is, will be left for another day because a more time conscious issue has bolted its way into our political discourse; the rumours of a cabinet reshuffle. That reshuffle, whether or not it eventually comes to pass deserves immediate attention.
As early as December last year there was a lot of talk in the air that some kind of substantial cabinet reshuffle was in the offing. It did not happen then.
A number of factors are now conspiring to make the reshuffle manifestly inevitable; the minister of foreign affairs is most likely to leave for the African Union. And also there are ongoing discussions to increase the number of ministers and also Specially Elected Members of Parliament.
And that is not all.
The current cabinet setup is not only stale but rusted. There has to be some knocking of the heads at the cabinet table.
If done in good faith, a cabinet reshuffle is one of the most complex and taxing undertakings for any president. A cabinet reshuffle is perhaps the only undertaking where a president has to disregard all the self-aggrandisement of his ever present coterie of advisors.
In doing it the President has to listen to his inner self, his conscience and may be also to his God.
This is because by its nature a reshuffle entails breaking quite a few hearts, killing a few careers and showing some people their rightful places.
A cabinet reshuffle is the most potent weapon any president has at his disposal to remind those around him that ultimately it is him and him alone who is in charge. A reshuffle when properly done is an instrument a president uses not only to spread largesse but, perhaps more importantly to drive home the point that he owes nobody a job.
It is a vehicle the big man uses to send a subtle but powerful message to the nation that continued stay inside his inner circle will only be justified by continued sterling performance. If it is not a phony one, a cabinet reshuffle can also send a clear and unambiguous message that people remain in government for the unique talents and skills they bring to the top table and not for connections and certainly not for debts they are owed from the past. In the end a cabinet reshuffle could be a painful, merciless and miserable undertaking.
There is no pleasure to be derived from implementing a cabinet reshuffle ÔÇô not even for a battle hardened and calculating state president such as ours.
As things stand one does not have to do any thorough skills audit to see that the president does not have any big pool of talent from which to reinforce his team. At the moment a good number of ministers have been appointed not on merit, but connections.
A good number of ministers are simply lost at sea, visibly unaware of what is expected of them.
To be fair to the president, he does not have sufficient human capital pool at his disposal to overcome the complex challenges that the country faces.
But still the high number of laggards in cabinet is unpardonable.
It’s high time the president put torch to the trash surrounding him at the top table. The strongest President that this country has ever seen, when it comes to cabinet appointment Khama has often betrayed his strong will; cutting the image of a man held ransom by various interests because he owes jobs to too many people. Corruption is endemic among his ministers, yet he has never mustered enough courage to sack a single of his ministers for corruption.
Delivery, one of President Ian Khama’s key principles in his founding roadmap has been a casualty because of a lack of depth at cabinet level.
Previus changes to cabinet have not yielded much impact.
Will it be any different this time around? The answer is not likely.
Short of the proposed increase, the President has played all the cards that he was dealt, as it were.
And finding the right mix might in the end prove evasive.
The situation is not helped by the fact that the quality of the backbench is also not encouraging.
Mighty hope is thus placed on the few that will enter Parliament and cabinet as part of the ongoing constitutional amendments to increase the number of cabinet ministers and also specially elected MPs. There is very little room for the president to maneuver.
Shaking the tree too forcefully might result in the collapse of the entire edifice.
The ministry of minerals, for example is a pitiful sight, but there is not much that Khama can do about it. After losing elections incumbent minister Kitso Mokaila had to be persuaded to continue with politics.
The result of it all was that he cut himself a tight deal, only agreeing to come back into parliament and cabinet under own terms.
Mokaila can thus not be transferred without the risk of him quitting both cabinet and parliament.
Other than dividing the ministry into two, we might all have to plod it to the end with him. This takes away the power of a president who is already a captain of a very tight ship.
Mokaila is not the only minister who is untouchable.
The ministers of youth and that of finance for example are also out of reach for any reshuffle.
The two ministers have been appointed under a different set of rules that has absolutely nothing to do with ability, experience or qualifications.
The two are not subjected to the same scrutiny rules that apply to other cabinet ministers.
A visitor from Mars would, for example, be forgiven for thinking that the minister of youth was also doubling as a prime minister at the same time. He spends time pontificating on macro policy directions including those that fall outside his already broad portfolio.
Hardly a week passes by without a big policy pronouncement from that ministry. The minister of finance has been able to create an aura of indispensability about himself.
So any reshuffle will not affect these two. After the train debacle, an impression has been created that Tshenolo Mabeo is a member of the president’s inner circle.
Another time, another president, he would have long been sacked without waiting for a formal cabinet shakeup.
The ministry of health is behaving like a huge truck that cannot be negotiated in a curve without causing fatalities.
Once famed for her result oriented outlook, at the ministry of health Docars Makgatlho has struggled to find her feet. But there is no clear and ready replacement for her. Her assistant, a doctor by training cuts the image of a businessman rather than a politician.
The ministry clamours for a new pair of hands. But again owing to dearth of human capital the president might find himself unable to meaningfully institute a change therein.
The ministry of trade is led by a man who appears to be drowning rather than swimming. His deputy has his sights and interests elsewhere and not in politics.
The upshot of it all is a ministry that, like a ship without a captain is drifting ashore without direction and with nobody in charge.
Something has to be done, not only to make the ministry relevant, but save it, as it were. The minister of local government, Slumber Tsogwane is a very good man who unfortunately has been handed a poisoned chalice. He has lately been acting like a broom, cleaning the mess left by a long string of his erratic predecessors. I have never seen a humbler, more good-hearted man. I would recommend him to be allowed to continue with his cleaning work at this all too important ministry.
Then there is Defence, Justice and Security. It’s high time the president extended to this ministry the level of seriousness it deserves. Shaw Kgathi’s loyalty to the president and also to the party is beyond reproach. But his abilities mean that he can be put to better use elsewhere.
The more he attempts to assert himself as cabinet’s elder statesman the more he reinforces the public image of him as a clown. Presidential Affairs is led by one of those people that only president Khama knows just what he owes them.
It would be foolhardy, in fact hoping against hope to expect Eric Molale to be shifted.
Nonofo Molefhi is a star performer who is also an all rounder, he could be moved to any ministry where there is urgency for a shakeup from the current lull.
