President Ian Khama tells his party National Council that the idea of Electronic Voting Machines was never at any stage a creation of his cabinet.
Perhaps taking cue from his leader, the Secretary General of the ruling party also comes forward, with little goading to say his party never suggested EVMs.
The first time the Botswana Democratic Party ever heard about anything called EVMS was exactly the same time like the rest of us, so says Botsalo Ntuane.
The BDP, adds Ntuane has before then never ever thought of anything called EVMs.
In a strangely bizarre way, it is possible that both men are right.
We cannot blame these two men for playing semantics on such a serious matter.
Rather we should blame ourselves as the public. We have been dealt exactly what we deserve.
To be fair to them, the EVMs law was hardly ever BDP’s law.
For a party that does not have a Policy Forum much less a think tank, the idea of coming up with something as outlandish and eccentric as EVMs is for the BDP indeed far-fetched.
But when President Khama too says it is not the invention of his Government, then we have to get very worried.
Left of us as a country then is to ask ourselves how we ended up being lumbered with a disruptive piece of innovation that nobody knows its origination and one that nobody really wants or is proud of.
And also as it now looks increasingly clear, an innovation that nobody wants to take ownership of.
The blame rests with the public. Public apathy and indifference to the manner that the country has been run has contributed immensely to a culture of impunity that now prevails.
Our detachment from important decisions that govern this country means that all has been left to politicians and their handlers.
It is exactly because of such civic disengagement that a senior minister in the presidency can under a rarely used Certificate of Urgency instrument come to parliament to introduce changes to one of the country’s most important statutes, get it voted for by Parliament the majority of who are from the ruling party and still get the leader of that same party assisted by his Secretary General to in the end get away with saying they knew nothing about it.
History teaches us that politicians, especially in this country are not of a quality and decency to be allowed a free leeway when it comes to important decisions.
The saga surrounding EVMs buttress that point.
In the meantime the country is on fire.
Divided by EVMs that nobody wants, the country stumbles from one embarrassment to the other.
Not so long ago, the Independent Electoral Commission ÔÇô or that part of it that deals with EVMs sent out a public invitation.
The meeting was supposed to conduct a demonstration of how EVMs work.
Also solicited were people with such skills to come forward and hack the machines.
It was an act of desperation. It was also the height of madness.
The whole thing degenerated into a fiasco, a circus that in more serious countries should lead to heads rolling.
Manufacturers of the machines ÔÇô or people posing as such said they would not allow their machines to be hacked, effectively conceding that indeed the machines were hackable ÔÇô thus confirming what the critics have always said.
Presiding over the circus was one Gabriel Seeletso ÔÇô an accomplished public servant who has had a sterling and distinguished public service career.
Seeletso has been a constant feature since EVMs became a part of Botswana’s lexicon.
The biggest loser after ordinary members of public who are being given a dummy that nobody wants to take full ownership of, can only be Seeletso.
Just what is in it for Seeletso? Why is he willing to put his credibility, his integrity and reputation on the line?
Speaking for his Government and obviously the party he leads, President Khama has made it clear that the introduction of EVMs was never his law.
The president’s story, under the circumstances has been corroborated by his Secretary General.
Then who really is Seeletso working for?
In trying to answer this question, Seeletso initially stated he was taking instructions from Parliament.
Before shifting to say EVMs are a result of some obscure evaluation report.
Is there a third force that convinced Minister Eric Molale to come up with this law?
Opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change has argued that the only institution in the country that has the capacity to manage EVMs is the intelligence services.
The immediate question then becomes, what is the interest of our intelligence services in the outcome of the General Elections due in 2019.
There is no prize for getting the answer correct.
Like an orphan, EVMs have now been left to face the world alone.
If the machines have a guardian, then they are somewhere in the shadows.
Given that everybody is now disowning EVMs, we have to dig deeper to find out who really is behind EVMs, and more importantly, what their motive (s) really could be.
