President Khama has, without any doubt, changed the political landscape of our country. His appointment as the Vice President and his ascendancy to the highest office in the land marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of our nation. No one can simply ignore him. It is either you like him or you hate him.
I feel pity for him because he joined politics at the wrong time. The problems afflicting our society nowadays are complex. They require long-term solutions. They require an intelligent, progressive and agile leader. Those with a simplistic view of life like him cannot succeed.
Things have not been going well for our president. He is in a precarious position, partly because of the uncalculated decisions that he makes and failure by his advisors to guide him when it matters the most. His advisors failed to give him a proper orientation and grounding on what politics entails; how things are done in the dog eats dog world of politics, how political conflicts can be handled, how pertinent national decisions are made and others.
They failed to tell him that good leaders do not stifle debates and suffocate people who differ with them. They do not treat the party that they lead and the state institutions as their personal properties. They do not personalize things that are discussed at different fora such as parliament, kgotla meetings and others.
I feel pity for the president because the problems besieging the BDP and his administration require a leader who is open-minded, accommodative and has foresight. Unfortunately, these traits are lacking in our president thus making it difficult for him to successfully address the problems that he faces as the leader of the BDP and the nation at large.
President Khama does not seem to realize that our nation is made up of people who are very intelligent, smart, vocal and independent-minded. Citizens are enlightened and therefore have a better understanding of how government business is to be conducted. They know the difference between good and bad governance. They know their rights and freedoms. They cannot be taken for granted as it was the case in the 1970s and 1980s. They cannot be ignored when they complain about a particular issue such as the misuse of state media, low salaries and corruption by ministers among others. It is therefore unreasonable for the president to think that he can simply tell citizens what to do, when and how after facing any form of resistance.
I feel pity for our president because he has failed to appreciate the difference between the military and civilian world. Unlike in the military, where an order given by a senior officer is followed without any complaint by junior officers, things are totally different in the civilian world. This explains why we have Kenneth Dipholo, Sonny Serite, Thapelo Otlogetswe and Sydney Pilane, just to mention a few, who cannot keep quiet when things are not done in an appropriate manner. Having spent thirteen years in politics, one would expect our president to be the master of the game. But as we all know, he is still struggling to understand and fully comprehend the basic rules of the game.
In Setswana it is wrong for one to refuse to meet with the elders or reject their intervention efforts with contempt as President Khama did with Sir Ketumile Masire on two occasions. The ancestors are definitely not happy with the manner in which a senior statesman such as Sir Ketumile Masire has been treated by the Khama administration. In Setswana we say “pelo ya mogolo moloi.”
Since the ancestors are not happy, nothing will go according to his plan as evidenced by different events that took place recently. For example, Major General Pius Mokgware was fired and Major General Tiroyamodimo was elevated to the position of Deputy Commander, only for him to be suspended from duty as he has a case to answer in a court of law. This has created problems for the BDF.
Two of Khama’s most trusted and loyal ministers, Ndelu Seretse and Ken Mathambo have been charged with corruption. Assistant Minister Matlhabaphiri is accused of wrecking the marriage of a lady who used to work for him as a maid.
Furthermore, Kgosi Tawana Moremi recently resigned from the BDP citing irreconcilable differences with the party leadership. Almost all members of the BDP youth committee resigned in protest over the manner in which the president handled the strike by public servants. Rayner Makosha, Fidelis Molao, Kentse Rammidi, Kopo Mononi and Alec Seanetso addressed public servants on strike against the wish of the party leadership.
Rammidi recently resigned from cabinet and is pushing for elections at the BDP congress scheduled for July. Given the prevailing state of affairs in the BDP, the party is definitely going to be even more polarized after the congress.
Due to the restrictions placed on the president by the country’s constitution, he finds himself in a position where he has to appoint people who cannot assist him to take this nation to greater heights. Just look at the Vice President, Acting Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Minister of Agriculture and one of the Assistant Ministers at the Ministry of Local Government. The most educated person in this list has a Certificate in Artificial Insemination. One gentleman who was assisting the police with investigations relating to stock theft before the 2009 elections also managed to find his way into cabinet.
As if this is not enough, the president was recently forced to appoint someone with a Ph.D in Public Administration as the Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning. Logic suggests that she can contribute meaningfully at the Ministry of State President rather than at MFDP as the former deals with issues that she knows better. The president is surrounded by old people who behave like children. When they fail to deliver, they write letters of complaints about their colleagues and expect the president to demand a public apology from the accused persons. Only bootlickers behave this way and the president does not seem to be aware that he is used to destroy the political careers of BDP members.
There are people who are in the BDP not because they like it or believe that it is the right party to lead this nation. They just want to make money and protect their business interests. They are sharks and vultures that are ready to pounce anytime. Unfortunately, the president has failed to take note of this group of people and take appropriate action.
You see, it is one thing to be a lousy member of the ruling party and it is another thing to be a weak leader of the party and a weak president of a country such as ours, which has been held in high esteem in the international arena for many years. My assessment of President Khama is that he is failing to lead. His simplistic view of the complex problems bedeviling our society will never take us anywhere. He is taking us in the wrong direction and history is going to judge him harshly.
*Dr Mothusi is a Lecturer of Public administration at the University of Botswana
