In 1989 when Lieutenant General Merafhe retired from military service at the position of Commander of the Defence Force (CDF), his deputy, Major General Khama was elevated by rank and position to replace him.
The new kid in the block who was thirty six years old once again broke records of becoming the youngest chief of the military in Africa and probably in the rest of the world. The young leader was to immediately to institute instant and drastic changes.
The defence force that General Merafhe had left behind was changed beyond recognition. Merafhe left and never looked back. The gentleman officer from the old era of the police knew and understood that his time was over.
In 1998 General Khama left the military for politics where he was elevated high up to the position of vice president. But the unfortunate thing was Khama kept looking over his shoulder to check what Lieutenant General Fisher; his erstwhile deputy and successor was doing.
Filling the shoes of General Khama was never an easy thing for his successor because Khama distasted any change that resembled the undoing of what he had instituted during his time at the helm of the military.
But General Fisher who was highly educated in the field of the military was eager to institute change within a short time upon his assumption of leadership. Unlike Khama who only did one course in his entire military career (platoon commander’s course at Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst), Fisher had gone through several courses as he progressed through the ranks until he was general.
One of the most significant changes that General Fisher brought about was the deconstruction of the units at BDF. Three commands were created in this order; Defence Logistics Command, Ground Forces Command and the Air Arm Command. These commands were autonomous to a greater extent.
Further to “insult” Khama, Fisher moved away from the use of the Land Rover as the military utility vehicle. The Land Rover had been in use for the previous thirty one years since the establishment of Botswana’s military.
Khama was incensed with this particular change because the company that sold Land Rovers to BDF was associated to the Khama family business. Fisher was to introduce a better and bigger French ACMT vehicle that could carry a section of troops (ten men) with all their equipment. The vehicle was very robust with a fuel capacity to travel one thousand kilometres none stop.
In 2008, Khama took over from Mogae and became the state president of Botswana. The new president came in with several sweeping changes and these were especially associated with his road map to nowhere.
When Khama took over from Mogae, he moved heaven and earth. Furniture and personnel were moved around to the gratification of the new president. Well, for some things to be moved, it was within the prerogative of the president. But for Khama, he would not leave any stone unturned just for the sake of turning it.
Before Khama took over, he was glad to announce to one member of his Republican Guard that he was glad to finally be in the highest office. Khama protested that at every junction he had to lead, someone of Botalaote extraction was standing on his way. This was in reference to Merafhe and Mogae.
While president, he never wanted to listen to the advice of anyone of the former presidents in Masire and Mogae. This was in many occasions including the period of the famous 2011 industrial strike. In 2018, Khama’s time was up and over. For those of us who have worked closely with him, we doubted if he was ever going to let go.
I have worked as General Khama’s staff officer for welfare while he was commander at BDF. The man never makes empty jokes. When he was leaving BDF, he joked that sometime the lead can become the leader, the subordinate becoming the superior.
For many of us we thought he meant that his deputy was not necessarily going to succeed him. But instead, he was referring to himself being appointed over General Merafhe who was already in cabinet. For all of us, the appointment of Khama to the position of VP was not a pleasant surprise.
For most of us who had a good understanding of this character known as Khama, we waited with our fingers crossed until the handing over was completed. It was not going to be over until it was over. The apprehension was not anything we had experienced in the previous take overs.
Once the building was completed, the scaffolding never wanted to leave the construction site. The building was the fifth president while the scaffolding is the fourth president.
Khama has visibly been unhappy with the way his predecessor has been doing things and this has gone on to a point where he has gone to campaign against our country in the neighbouring countries as well as overseas. This crusade started abroad as an expression of the negligence by the new president on our wildlife and particularly elephants.
According to Khama, his successor was not entitled to move a thing; even the paint on the State House was to remain the same. But lo and behold, the new man behind the controls was determined to even move mountains like he did with Isaac Kgosi who was the head of intelligence.
The former president is a man who never wanted his authority to be challenged and he would act ruthlessly against such defiance. If his predecessor had acted the same way he is acting, truly speaking Khama would have acted swiftly to crush the “rebellion”.
In a recent interview with local journalists, former president Festus Mogae outrightly told the nation that Ian Khama is continuing to behave in the same manner like he did while he was his vice. This has come to confirm the headline that read; “The Tail is Wagging the Dog.” Festus Mogae has nailed it.
