That will be a disgrace!
Taking Ian Khama head on was always going to be a world too far for our opposition parties.
The man is a populist par excellence, who has no qualms abusing and misusing state resources to achieve his ultimate goal.
His only goal, at any given time, is self preservation. Anything else is incidental.
If he had his way he could remain in power even without his BDP, which, by the way, he has quite rightly classified as a nuisance not very much different from opposition parties ÔÇô in both character and behaviour.
There is now a real life chance that after a long period of dithering, Khama may actually be open to direct election of the president.
For the first time, I find myself wholly behind the President.
Direct election of the president is a topic very close to my heart.
It is the easiest and most potent way of empowering the voter.
It also creates a direct link between the ruler and the ruled, thereby lending more credence to our pretensions of public accountability.
Instead of celebrating, for this is what they have always wanted, our opposition parties have resorted to speaking in tongues.
It is like they called for it hoping Khama would not agree to it.
Be careful of what you wish for, you may just get it!
There is no doubt that President Khama reckons that with the dwindling BDP support, direct election of the President is the only guarantee to his personal political survival.
To him, it is not so much that he wants to enrich democracy.
Rather, it is a way of detaching himself from a loathsome baggage that could otherwise take him down with itself if he remained close to it.
To him, what does it matter whether the BDP wins or loses! The important thing is that he should remain president.
It’s all keeping in kind.
But to us non-politicians, that should be of no concern. The important thing is with direct election of the president, politicians will for the first time find themselves sharing power with the voter.
What has, however, altogether been surprising has been the response from our opposition parties.
Instead of dancing and celebrating, they have taken on to behaving like hostages.
They are running scared, unable to even confirm if they still believe in what they have always called for.
This shocking level of inconsistency by our opposition parties is doing their credibility, image and reputation no favours. They risk delving their already tattered reputations into new depths of public doubt.
Now that they realize Khama will beat them at their own ball game, some opposition parties find themselves unable to even endorse a demand that has over the years become not only their mantra, but also a part of their DNA.
That cannot be right.
The most revealing has been the Botswana National Front who, as history will bear us out, has called for direct election of the President for much longer than anybody else.
In fact, they are the party that not only started it but also made it a fashionable demand.
Now that their all too popular Kenneth Koma is gone and they have failed to produce a person popular enough to take on Ian Khama, they think they can easily get away with a clandestine shift of positions.
That will not wash.
A fear of a loss can never be sufficient enough to justify backtracking on this key pole.
As is the case with Ian Khama, for the BNF it’s all about self preservation. Only they are doing from different ends.
Then there is the Botswana Congress Party.
On many occasions, I have listened to their president Dumelang Saleshando call for the direct election of the president. Saleshando is at his most articulate when he talks about the benefits of such a system.
And just when Ian Khama is giving in to Saleshando’s long held dream, the BCP has started to speak in forked tongues.
They have developed cold feet.
They say they welcome direct election but with a new set of conditions.
It has to be accompanied by proportional representation, they say.
That is weird to say the least.
For their part, the BMD say they do not have a position on the matter.
It is the first time I see this loquacious lot lost for words. And I think I know why.
They are mature enough to know defeat when they see one. And they are looking at it right in the face.
A leading BMD intellectual tells me direct election of the president is going to create imperial presidency. In a clever way the man is suggesting that our people are not yet clever enough to be given the power to choose who they want as their president. That is best left to Members of Parliament. One does not get more elitist than that!
It is the patronizing arrogance of the first order.
I look forward to the day when our politicians will show more trust in the people.
My answer to him is that we already are living through an imperial presidency where our parliament is totally unable to check the overweening power of an unelected president.
That said, the writing is on the wall ÔÇô all our opposition parties have failed to produce a candidate popular enough to take on Ian Khama.
But for some of us, it was never about Ian Khama. To some of us direct election of the president is not a matter of election strategy. Rather it is an intrinsic way of empowering the voters, including those viewed not sophisticated enough by our opposition politicians.
What matters is that all our politicians, most importantly the president, should derive their sustenance directly from the people.
As Mahatma Gandhi once put it, individuals come and go. And Khama will do the same when his time is up.
What is important for now is to nurture and work at our democracy. In fact, that is all that matters.
It is that alone which counts for everything. And what better way to do it than allowing the people to choose who they want as their president!
