The Office of the President has declined to say whether the Head of State intends to retract remarks, which have attracted criticism, he made at various public gatherings last year.
OP rather prefers that gaffes made by President Ian Khama be downplayed while trumpeting the praise for his continental recognition as the third best-performing African Head of State.
Khama made a public remark last year when he was first publicly encouraged to wed, saying women are troublesome.
When a veteran of the Botswana Democratic Party, Kebatlamang Morake, encouraged him to find a spouse at a political rally towards the end of last year, the President reportedly made another remark in jest that he wants a slim, tall and beautiful woman, not a heavy one who might break vehicle shock absorbers, apparently pointing at the Assistant Minister of Local Government, Botlogile Tshireletso.
From her looks Ms Tshireletso is certainly not a slim woman.
Khama also attacked political opponents of the Botswana Movement for Democracy saying they were inviting a civil war. He would neither say how they were inviting civil war nor cite individuals who were inciting war.
“Batswana should take pride in that His Excellency President Seretse Khama Ian Khama has been ranked as the third best-performing African Head of State. The presidents’ grades were derived from five respected international indices of governance (Mo Ibrahim Index, Democracy Index, Press Freedom Index, Corruption Index and Human Development Index), plus the new Nation Media Group Political Index developed by the magazine,” said director of Research and Policy Development in the Office of the President, Dr. Raphael Dingalo.
The East African magazine released its first Annual African Leaders’ scorecard which reports on how African leaders have dealt with issues related to use of State power, investment in food security and infrastructure as well as investment in nation building.
