Masisi might have to cut a deal with Balopi to save his own skin

This might not be the best time to even start thinking about making political deals. But hey, don’t tell me that former Member of Parliament Samson Moyo Guma spent years outside of Botswana, because, as he put, his life was in danger, and one morning just decided to walk back into the country without first securing himself a deal. And nothing has happened to him since. In fact he is busy dabbling in politics like never before. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party is facing unfamiliar territory. Uncertainty abounds. Much of it is a result of the feud between president Mokgweetsi Masisi and his predecessor Ian Khama. Part of it stems from the fact that by any measure the Masisi government has not delivered. And this on the backdrop oof too many promises made in 2019.

Of course corruption has been a big issue, including and chiefly by Masisi’s inner circle. That led to them sacking former Director General of the corruption busting agency, the DCEC, Tymon Katholo because he had started investigating them. The BDP has been losing a string of by elections to the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change. In the beginning the BDP was able to bush it off as a usual protest vote against incumbent government. But because of Covid, there have been unusually high number of by elections. And the results have been one-sided, creating an uncomfortable pattern for the ruling party. For president Masisi everything that could go wrong has gone horribly wrong. Public services have deteriorated. The worst has been the public health system, which has all but collapsed. There is a shortage of medicine across the country. This has left too many people horrified.