It is now public knowledge that President Ian Khama rarely attends regional, continental and international meetings of heads of state. His office has always reasoned that such meetings are meaningless and essentially a platform to talk shop. President Khama rather prefers to send one of his lieutenants who often makes regrettable and crass remarks that are often embarrassing.
Many have tried to reason with President Khama’s advisors to talk him into attending some of such meetings precisely because the meetings provide important platforms for engagement on global challenges. These meetings give world leaders an opportunity to dialogue, explore and seek innovative ideas and solutions to key global challenges and decisions taken always go a long way in boosting trade and shaping regional and global economic and political outlook. However, President Khama has refused to entertain such common sense causing Botswana to lose out on obvious opportunities. Consequently, many have come to live with the reality that ours is a state president who prefers to be with his people in dirty streets and impoverished villages rather than repositioning Botswana as an investment destination of choice.
Nevertheless, a critical examination of President Khama’s few external travels is fascinating and points to a state president whose priorities are bizarre and irresponsible. Whereas President Khama has remained resolute in his disdain for annual regional, continental and international meetings of eminent figures with a cogent and thoughtful agenda, he has a soft spot for gatherings whose main agenda is to socialize, play and dine.
Whereas he has limited time for Southern African Development Community (SADC) or African Union (AU) summits, he happily accepted an invitation to travel to Swaziland to attend the country’s 40th anniversary, Mswati’s 40th birthday and the annual Reed festival where God’s little female creatures were paraded half naked. What this implies is that given a choice between singing a birthday song for an incorrigible despot and attending a SADC Summit on regional trade, President Khama would jet out for Mswati’s bash. Birds of the same feathers!
Other than accepting an invitation to attend and witness the signing of the power sharing agreement between ZANU PF and MDC, President Khama has steadfastly refused to dialogue with other SADC leaders on the Zimbabwean crisis preferring to shoot from the comforts of his office.
President Khama recently declined an invitation to attend a summit for African leaders in the USA purportedly because he had more pressing issues to attend at home and in the process denying Malawian President Joyce Banda a hitch hike to attend this crucial meeting. As recent as the third week of July 2013, the Presidency issued a press statement announcing that President Khama ‘leaves today for Maseru, Lesotho for King Letsie III’s 50th birthday celebrations’. Double standards or cry wolf or just the case of a clumsy and delinquent excuse!! I leave this to the reader’s own interpretation to form an intelligent opinion in terms of priorities in respect of the two events.
Anyone who is not perturbed by President Khama’s choice of invitations would never be troubled by anything and it does not matter how much you refuse to see malice in President Khama’s priorities, a trend is noticeable and should make every patriotic citizen angry ÔÇô he is a party animal who uses considerable public monies to groove.
It is President Khama’s privilege to attend birthday parties at the tax payers’ expense but for him to give them prominence over national interests is weird and borders on fraud and is clear sign that he has his priorities up-side-down and has perhaps become irreversibly irrelevant. Indications are that President Khama still has the little boy in him craving birthday cakes and finding it hard to miss the parties hence it should be our duty to remind him of his immediate responsibilities as His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana lest he is virtually lost in the world of showbiz. Remember how he was sparkling with excitement while presenting a surprise birthday cake to South African President Jacob Zuma a little while ago? You rarely see him that cheerful!
Ignore his high approval rating and popularity amongst indigent persons and small babies perhaps mistaking him for the creator of their beloved and famous cartoon film called Tom & Jerry, President Khama has become irrelevant and well past his use-by-date. Faced with critical socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, water shortages, persistent power cuts and many others, president Khama finds himself unable to do much else other than carry on with his walkabouts, perhaps to divert attention from his failures and presents himself as a hero and true friend of the poor.
Admittedly, these walkabouts work so well for his hero’s image but hardly advance national interests. We needed a state president willing and able to inspire citizens including civil servants to serve with diligence rather than someone too happy to humiliate his people at every given opportunity. We needed a state president willing and able to engage with his peers to advance our peculiar interests rather than hide in the country side. It is intriguing that when many expected him to weave together a sane stimulus package for a crumbling economy he developed a ludicrous package comprising blankets and soup.
It is wrong and ill-advised for President Khama to give birthday parties special preference while putting national interests on the back burner. These are trying times and common sense suggests that birthday parties and playing with cheetahs should be of much lower priority.
It is tragic that President Khama has chosen to lead the country from game ranches and salt pans or not lead at all except when he takes to the stage to berate the private media and critics of his administration. Ultimately, few people care whether he has gone to a birthday party or baby shower or roaming some street somewhere in the country, President Khama has virtually become irrelevant and a liability.
