On 1st April 2008 former President Dr Khama delivered his inauguration speech that was weaved around inspiring rhetoric and head-girl toned threats against those not up to the task in terms of delivering services and development to the nation. The speech tried harder to present former President Dr Khama as someone who was assuming the Office of the President with a clear program of action and perhaps a far much better leader than his predecessor. Former President Dr Khama had specifically remarked that ‘…however, in the case of the incoming administration you may detect a change in style and special emphasis on a number of issues’.
Nonetheless, former President Dr Khama dispelled fears of radical changes and authoritarianism by explaining that the change in style and special emphasis on his preferred issues should be understood in the context that no two people are the same. From there on former President Dr Khama laid down the roadmap for his presidency that came to be known as the 4Ds. Significantly, former President Dr Khama remarked that ‘areas that I feel [my emphasis] need special emphasis are employment creation and poverty alleviation, programs for the youth, health, housing and the fight against crime’.
The issues that he singled out for special emphasis came to constitute the president’s agenda that informed his administration’s policy objectives. In his own words, the issues emanated from his personal feelings. Articulating a vision or roadmap should never be embarked upon like a desperate hunting expedition where the hunter aimlessly hopes to kill any animal if only he can have something by end of day. Articulating a vision for a prosperous future founded on the ideals of opportunity and dignity for all requires visionary leadership that is guided by practical and realistic strategies.
Significantly, these strategies that constitute the game plan have to be informed by the critical challenges facing the nation. Likewise, these critical challenges should not be a product of desperate brainstorming or vague ideas of an opinionated demagogue. In other words, the challenges facing the nation should not derive from what a leader ‘feels’ are the issues needing his immediate attention.
Identifying the nation’s pressing challenges and prioritizing them should be systematic work that is informed by a careful and thorough examination of the condition of the nation. In order to assess the sacle of the challenge we face and help prioritize action, we need to start with a clear assessment of Botswana. This is so because an outline of the nation’s serious problems is meant to justify the choice of proposed intervention measures that will likely have a profound impact on the direction of the nation and its policies for years to come.
A systematic inquiry into the condition of the nations is crucial in establishing the basis for future action. It is crucial in setting out a clear diagnosis of what was wrong with Botswana and how the socio-political and economic forces could be harnessed to drive the nation in the desired direction. For instance, former President Dr Khama had highlighted some of the social problems in our society that he reckoned needed his attention. He eventually invested a lot of time and resources towards addressing these problems, consistently reminding the nation that, freedoms go hand in hand with responsibility. The outcome was a myriad of policies that sought to address indiscipline that he thought has crept into our society.
On 1st April 2018, in his inauguration speech new President Masisi remarked that ‘we have just witnessed a smooth transfer of national leadership in accordance with our constitution. This occasion symbolizes the end of one era, and the beginning of another’. The assumption is that this new or another era is substantially different from the old order. This assumption is reinforced by former President Dr Khama’s honest observation that no two people are the same. Thus, the nation expect President Masisi’s approach to be substantially different from former President Khama’s approach, both in style and special emphasis on a number of issues.
That Presdent Masisi has to be his won man is perhaps a readily embraced proposition though it is normal that there shall be some odd jibes accusing him fpr wanting to dismantle former President Dr Khama’s legacy. This is a safe bet and is perfectly typical with any transion at the leadership level. However, President Masisi could as well put to rest fears that he is intent on burryimg former President Dr Khama’s dispensation by justifying the departure from the past ÔÇô a change in style and special emphasis.
A credible and pasuasive procedure to do so would require President Masisi to share with Batswana the current evidence-based condition of the nation. This would be a detailed report on the status of the nation informed by objective evidence as opposed to what President Masisi personally consider as pressing national challenges. This report on the status of the nation would be fundamentally different from the annual State of the Nation Address that has over the years been reduced to an annual insignificant ritual where the state president simply enumerates major projects being implemented by the government.
On the contrary, the proposed report on the state of the nation would derive from a thorough audit of the nation that would catalogue the nation’s serious problems that represent the felt needs of our people and measures proposed to address these problems. This report would then form the basis for President Masisi’s departure from the chaotic roadmap of former President Dr Khama. The report would gave the nation factual information on the state of the economy that is being passed over to the incoming president so as to appreciate the magnitude of the task ahead in reconstructing the nation.
This approach would certainly convince the nation to rally behind President Masisi’s policy objectives for national prosperity in ways that would resotre the battered image of the Office of the President. The approach would inevitably reengineer the presidency and use it as a bullypulpit to sweet-talk the entire nation to do the right thing and fully support President Masisi’s initiatives. A detailed examination of the challenges and risks facing the nation and a in-depth assessment of strengths and opportunities inhereit or incidental to our shared values and principles of a democracy would certainly allow President Masisi to convincingly articulate a shared vision for his presidency. Until we take a structured approach to building a Botswana that is characterized by improved welfare of its people, we won’t really make any progress. We need a reality check on some of our so-called social and economic empowerment programmes.
Over the years the nation has been given inconsistent briefs by the government with what many believed are deliberately manipulated statistics such as poverty levels, crime rates and the impacts of the many government programs aimed at alleviating poverty. At one point we got told that the economy was recovering on the backdrop of a resurgent global economy before we were told that the economy is significantly contracting due to lower commodity prices in the international markets. In many ways, blaming the unpredictable global trade has be become the easiest scapegoat to offset the ineptitude of our leaders hence the need for a comprehensive and focused analysis of the state of the Botswana society.
This structured approach would inherently assure the nation that his vision for Botswana is not a political bluff but rather a bold declaration that he is assuming the presidency with every intention of being the leader of an ambitious and euthuasistic nation that never settle for less. It will reassure the nation that indeed their new president is determined to rise above the usual condescending and patronizing inauguration speeches that often unintentionally reveal hopelessness and the posture of someone overawed by the responsibility bestowed upon them.
