Somewhat sublimely the national debate is once again shifting towards who will succeed Ian Khama as State President.
In a series of interviews marking his five years in office, the president said he too does not know who will succeed him.
It was the least of his concerns for now, he said.
He certainly was being disingenuous if not outright expansive with the facts.
Every President spends a great part of his tenure chewing the cud on who ultimately becomes his successor.
And President Khama does not have a lot of time left.
The good thing for Khama is that barring tragedy visited upon him by primary elections, he is spoilt for choice when it comes to pool talent from which to choose.
There is Mokgweetsi Masisi, Ndelu Seretse, Pelonomi Venson, Kitso Mokaila and a few other dark horses which I can only mention by name here as contenders at a real risk of reducing myself to a political clown.
There are growing whispers within government that President Khama may actually be grooming his younger brother, Tshekedi Khama to ultimately succeed him as President.
Tshekedi Khama is currently a cabinet minister responsible for tourism, wildlife and environment.
A colleague in the media thinks allowing Tshekedi to become president will be a blessing in disguise for this country as he is so destined to fail that it will once and for all rid the country of the dynastic stranglehold that the Khama family has on us.
Of all the contenders and front runners, Masisi’s is by far ahead at the moment.
To a great extent this is because often without his own active instigation, Masisi has often emerged a beneficiary of other contenders’ misfortunes.
When the battle between Ndelu Seretse and DCEC on one hand and the Intelligence Services on the o0ther came to a head last year, it was Masisi who emerged a clear beneciary of the outcome when the president moved both DCEC and DIS to Masisi’s ministry for Presidential Affairs.
DIS, we have to keep reminding ourselves, continues to be led by one Isaac Kgosi, a face that will certainly be at the top table when a final decision is made who becomes Ian Khama’s successor.
We also have to keep reminding ourselves that notwithstanding all public denials, relations between Ndelu Seretse and Isaac Kgosi are currently at their lowest.
Removing DIS and DCEC from his ministry has left Ndelu Seretse vulnerable, politically exposed, personally humiliated, and feeling snubbed, isolated and side-stepped.
Personally I appreciate the anguish he so eloquently expressed to the president in a confidential letter he wrote to the master at the time.
Of the entire crowd, Pelonomi Venson is by far the most experienced when it comes to public service.
For many years she has had unfettered access to President Khama.
But the recent treatment of her by her longtime ally during campaigns leading to BDP congress in Maun has led many of us to believe that she might have lost favour with the chief.
While professing impartiality, it is not a secret that behind the scenes President Khama actively propped up Venson’s opposing camp, along the way allowing himself to become a defacto spiritual leader of Venson’s abrasive and swashbuckling opponents.
Any lesser soul would have pulled out of the race realising that the leader was tacitly endorsing the opposing camp. But not so with Venson. She went on to register a respectable outcome, demonstrating that she had a personal following of her own that could be trusted to defy even the unassailable Lord Khama.
Suffice to say that he remains a trusted family retainer, the less is said about Kitso Mokaila’s recent lapses in judgment the better it is for all of us. But please don’t rule him out just yet.
Which brings us back to Masisi, whose distinguishing feature among the crowd has been his intellect.
His biggest handicap however has been his readiness to want to adopt Khama’s enemies as his own too.
His dealings with public sector trade unions has been dishonourable to put it midly.
With his ministry responsible for media and political affairs, he has over and over again shown a shocking disdain for some of us in the private media.
Over the last few months there has been talk of his deteriorating relations with Gloria Somolekae.
Two weeks ago President Khama banished Somolekae from the coveted presidential halls and sent her to ministyry of health.
By transferring Somolekae, President Khama was most certainly fighting for and helping Masisi win yet another battle.
It may be true that President Khama not yet made up his mind.
But given the paces through which he has put Masisi, the man is clear head and shoulders above the other contenders.
Personally I have no idea what Masisi stands for.
It will even be harder to imagine what his presidency, if it comes to pass will entail.
Will he be the custodian of Khama’s legacy which embodies a crass refusal to embrace consensus? Or he will want to take the party and with it government back to the days of Festus Mogae and before him Quitte Masire who moved mountains to carry everybody along?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Whatever the answer, it is important for our political analysts to accept that Mokgweetsi Masisi is today by far the most powerful minister in cabinet.
And this has nothing to do with the fact that he works directly under the watch of the State President, even as that too cannot be discounted.
