As President Masisi’s administration staggers mid-way through his first term, some people wonder if he is even up trying to turn his electoral promises into real politics. It is actually beginning to occur to more and more people that we are having a very, very weak president with a depressing body language and facial expression.
This discussion offers start from the premise that President Dr Masisi is an intelligent and good man seemingly committed to making Botswana a better place for all. This discussion also departs from the premise that President Dr Masisi is no political novice having held various Cabinet positions and ultimately deputizing the immediate past president on his way to becoming the President of the Republic of Botswana. This argument advances the conjecture that Dr Masisi became the state president with every understanding of what presidential leadership was all about.
If that were to be the case as it is, how then can a decently schooled president with so much experience and understanding of government perform so miserably that some people even miss the former president who ticked all boxes as a ruthless, self-serving, vainglorious charlatan?
This is a riddle that can no longer be decoded by pedestrian explanations such as the lazy argument that his presidency coincided with a devastating pandemic or that his presidency is sabotaged by a mafia-like bureaucracy that is in cahoots with the former president to make Botswana ungovernable.
Although there is truth in both of these versions, this discussion seeks to zero in on a far much plausible explanation, which is that President Dr Masisi’s administration is failing because of a wicked combination of a very weak, spineless president with a sickening professional reputation AND a Cabinet that behaves like a group of greedy, insubordinate mascots.
Presidents all over the world assemble their cabinets for the day to day management of government and these cabinet ministers serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Presidents often use cabinet reshuffling as a tool to control and manage cabinet ministers and ultimately to monopolize executive power.
It is a truism that presidents often decide to reshuffle cabinets so as to beat off pretenders to the throne whenever their leadership is challenged and/or to deal with incompetent ministers. As such, presidents have unlimited powers over cabinet ministers, individually and collectively and insinuation that some cabinet ministers were undermining the authority of President Dr Masisi reads like a poorly written introduction of a movie script.
President Dr Masisi has all the power to demote or summarily dismiss from cabinet any minister who behaves like an over-confident witch in ways that brings the authority of the presidency into question. In any case, it is a basic requirement that the president should be seen to be in total control of government and that means talking tough and taking unpopular decisions, including sacking problem ministers who were performing exceptionally well but becoming politically risky to keep.
Only a weak, indecisive president would tolerate Cabinet ministers who publicly contradict him on policy issues. As has already been indicated, President Dr Masisi’s professional reputation is tragic mainly because he is taken for a dishonest and loose-lipped con artist. Perhaps it is this image that gives Cabinet ministers some latitude to cross the line and taunt the president about the failure of his government to make good their electoral promises, without facing any consequences.
It cannot be over emphasized that effective control of cabinet ministers is a precondition for self-assured presidential leadership and influence over the entire government machinery. It may matter very little that President Dr Masisi has brought in a very experienced, politically astute Chief of Staff to stop the rot mainly because the president is failing to maintain a firm grip of his cabinet.
It is imperative that President Dr Masisi put his cabinet ministers in their place so that they could channel all their energy towards service delivery and forget about scheming for the ultimate prize. Those who want to invest their time little scheming minds in conniving and playing underhand should be called out to resign.
That much goes to demonstrate that President Dr Masisi continues to find his reputation lacking and his authority challenged by people who ordinarily should be his dancing crew and/or porters. As has already been argued, presidents use cabinet reshuffles to assert their authority and sometimes this has to be done the Jacob Zuma style just to remind ministers that their jobs cannot be guaranteed hence should behave themselves exactly like workers in precarious jobs by patronizing the employer.
Reports that some members of President Dr Masisi’s Cabinet have formed a faction, effectively creating a parallel state seems a deliberate act to show him the middle finger and this act is a reminder that a president must always exercise firm control over his cabinet ministers, have them feel spied on and keep them perpetually nervous.
Failure by President Dr Masisis to rein in his wayward ministers has morphed into a wider revolt in his ruling party and could ultimately make him loose control of the party and quit the leadership of the country. Civil servants have also been watching the turn of events and have certainly been emboldened to revolt against the authority of the superiors including the president because everyone is doing it and there are no consequences whatsoever.
This perhaps explains why there is so much inconsistency, indecisions, lack of internal consultation and cohesion in the conduct of government business. The nation is on its own and in need of a leader, an inspirational, conspicuous, reassuring and authoritative shepherd. This requires President Masisi to remodel and reinvent himself to be relevant and responsive to the demand of his job.
As already highlighted, the other factor that accounts for the dismal failure of President Masisi’s administration is the mediocre performance and insubordinate conduct of some of his Cabinet ministers. Granted President Dr Masisi deviated from the practice of appointing delinquents to head government ministries by picking specialists and experts and matching their specializations to ministerial portfolio, but the reality is that the Cabinet is a disaster.
President Dr Masisi’s Cabinet passes as a collection of a lettered crew of forgetful night watchmen who sleep on the job and/or constantly rob the employer. Many of us delighted in President Dr Masisi’s decision to have a Cabinet made up of schooled people with background in various disciplines.
But things have gone haywire and have continued to disintegrate even after the ministers have acquainted themselves with the operations of government. It is no longer a question of lack of experience that accounts for their poor performance.
It is also doubtful that their poor performance is born out of their incompetence because most of these ministers are adequately schooled with broad-based knowledge to navigate the challenges we face as a nation. Some are specialists who are known to have had distinguished careers.
The problem is that President Masisi’s cabinet is just a collection of greedy and paranoid wannabes who are intent on undermining and sabotaging government in order that President Masisi would not survive the mooted motion of no confidence in his administration.
Thus, the reported revolt inside cabinet goes to show that some of these ministers are subverting the efforts of government to dig the economy out of the COVID-19 inspired recession perhaps because they fancy their chances once the incumbent is forced out.
However, because of his poor professional reputation, President Dr Masisi has grown comfortable with some of his Cabinet ministers’ working at cross purposes with the very government they are paid to lead.
An A-list talent cabinet, which is what we have, is poorly managed and has been left to become bigheaded to the extent that they openly and perennially contradict the president without having their knuckles rapped.
As a result, President Masisi’s Cabinet is so fractious that no serious and decent president could tolerate and this unruliness and willful dereliction of duty by some Cabinet ministers mean that the people who are expected to drive the nation to safety are actively pushing us toward a deadly cliff.
A weak, cowed president and an animated, distinguished group of rebellious mascots is indeed a lethal cocktail. While there is no easy escape route for us, President Dr Masisi ought to reconstruct himself in order that he is commanding and noticeable. Such a transformation of the self would likely rub off on his cabinet leading to improved government performance.
