We are not obsessed with criticizing President Khama as some often say, but the Head of State, like a chief, must shoulder all the positives and negatives that come with the highest office in the land.
When Amantle Montsho bagged a gold medal, for instance, the President was there at the International Airport to congratulate her and share the glory on our behalf as a proud nation.
The many foreign relations pronouncements he makes with a little help from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Phandu Skelemani, represent the people of Botswana as one despite the fact that some may have reservations about them.
The government’s silence on Swaziland and Malawi comes to mind.
The President cannot bury his head in the sand when we find ourselves losing international accolades which his predecessors have upheld and improved on in many years. What is he doing wrong that his predecessors didn’t do?
Locally, he has the audacity to shift blame when poor service delivery comes to the fore to his ministers by way of summoning them to his kgotla meetings to answer for the shortcomings of a government he leads.
He has, by way of mastery, the habit of parading ministers before gullible and vulnerable members of society ostensibly for them to explain why the government is not delivering enough. The President, we suspect, could be cunningly endearing himself to the unsuspecting vulnerable Batswana through these antics.
He may be trying to create an impression that ministers are not performing well enough. As the President, he seems to be very keen to detach, distance and isolate himself from the failures of his government. At this rate, vulnerable people will simply go to sleep and think that the President and not ministers delivers. And hey Presto! The President will be the hero here.
The President must be reminded that taking a huge entourage of ministers and civil servants with him like at that recent Ghanzi Council meeting is unhelpful. It may look innocuous that he is basically trying to instill a new culture of ensuring that ministers take full responsibilities that go with their offices as he tries to portray himself as a people-centred President.
Who is the President going to blame for the sliding of Botswana from the Global Competitiveness Index? Is it not him as the face of this country? Where else is he going to stare to shift blame?
It is not amusing that we have slid four places to 80th position in the Global Competitiveness Index rankings for 2011 ÔÇô 2012. We stood at 56 when he assumed office. Surely something is going horribly wrong.
We are drifting backwards while other new democracies advance and steal the limelight which has hitherto been our monopoly.
The government owned Daily News reported Bank of Botswana governor, Linah Mohohlo, as having said that the outcome of the GCI report makes for sobering reading. The newspaper quoted her as saying that indications are that previous advantages that the country enjoyed continue to be eroded. This is worrying to say the least, coming from the Central Bank Governor. What else does she know that may be construed to be political coming from a bank governor? What else is she not telling us which might otherwise point to serious deviations from sound economic prudence?
Some of his peers have talked about political expediency but hesitate to direct what they mean to him. Instead, they continue to fire salvos at the wrong quarter.
She said Botswana is losing ground among countries which are close competitors in the global export market and in attracting foreign direct investment.
“It is also disappointing that we also show signs of slippage among a group of middle income economies that are classified by the World Economic Forum as making transition from resource dependency towards development that is based more on factors related to efficiency and productivity,” she is reported as having said. Where does that leave us as a country that aspires to eradicate, not alleviate, poverty?
