Some years ago, in October of 2006, well ahead of Khama’s ascendancy to the presidency, I had commented that Khama could as well become the best President Botswana ever had.
The Watch Dog column of the Sunday Standard by Spencer Mogapi strongly expressed similar sentiments.
President Khama’s reign still has a balance of almost seven years (barring electoral upset of unimaginable proportions) in which case Khama still has ample time to prove us right or wrong.
In the last three years since his inauguration, his performance has been a mixed bag. In most instances where his interventions have been disastrous and catastrophic, it has been observed that President Khama allowed petty politics to cloud his judgments.
Thus, in most cases President Khama takes decisions that put his party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) ahead of the nation and he knows and does not like it. But politics being politics (fool-tics), he nevertheless does it. His decision making habits depicts him as a leader who is more concerned with winning another election and having absolute control of the BDP instead of making life better for the majority of Batswana.
All his decisions are political first and foremost and are mostly aimed at humiliating his political opponents and critics. Unless president Khama changes tact and handle himself as President of the Republic of Botswana first and foremost, his inveterate drive for excessive individuality will in the long-run become his Achilles heel.
When president Khama was interviewed by the Voice newspaper, this is what he is reported to have said, ‘I have never asked to be Head of State. I didn’t leave the BDF to become the President of this country. I had my own plans. But I am here and will carry out my duties to the best of my abilities. There are two sides to my story.
There is the politics side, which is being party leader of Domkrag (BDP). And then there is government. Being the leader of the country, when I sit here, I am a public officer. I deal with policies, programs and delivery. It is no different to the time I was in the BDF. I am more comfortable with this job. But the party politics ÔÇô I wish there was a way I could divorce the two and just do this job without doing the politics side of it and leave that to the people who want to rant and rave. For me it is just a lot of negative energy’ The Voice, 12th November 2010.
I seem to share his sentiments and wish there was a way we could get him out of politics so that he channeled all his energies and exercise the full range of his authority in the interest of Botswana. President Khama commands considerable respect across the political divide. People listen when he talks and more than often people want to emulate him, his work ethic; life style and looks that exude charm and an image of sophistication. President Khama is a hard worker, looks after himself so well, does not over-indulge in pursuit of pleasures of this world and is highly ambitious with a lively public image.
President Khama could use the sheer amount of public good will at his disposal to inculcate, in people, these positive values and attitudes and behaviors for the benefit of the nation.
Unfortunately, in the short time he has been state president, Khama has become a master politician and few people would want to be manipulated by his politically clothed smiles.
Owing to the fact that all his decisions are clouded by petty political considerations, most people are always skeptical of his policy pronouncements and would readily rubbish them as the dreadful maneuvers of a well resourced BDP master schemer. Even when his policy proposals are well meaning and well intended, many people read BDP politics into them and subsequently dismiss them as poisoned beans.
When he chooses to ride on a donkey cart with village boys, people do not take this as his good nature but believe that Khama-the-politician is playing to the gallery to bamboozle or deceive poor people into believing that he is their mate.
Imagine Khama setting himself goals and objective standards that are not clouded by dirty politics or that are not meant for political expediency. Imagine President Khama making decisions uninhibited by petty political considerations. Imagine President focusing on using his magic to drive Botswana towards a prosperous future instead of using a large portion of his time scheming against everyone.
Surely Botswana would be truly blessed. Just look at how South African former President Nelson Mandela used the goodwill he enjoyed from the public to champion reconciliation.
President Khama could use his to champion his 5Ds and transform them into a magic wand. But Khama-the politician is a different man altogether with no sense of guilt as he spends very large amounts of public monies on luxuries when his people beg for bread. Khama once remarked that politics is a dirty game implying that for one to survive the dirty game he/she has to become dirty.
Thus, it can be safely assumed that Khama the politician has become dirty and dangerous and cannot be depended upon to direct the necessary human capital and resources to pursue national interests and propel the country to greater heights. He has been swallowed by barbaric politics which in his own observation bears a lot of negative energy. Khama the politician does not hesitate to use public resources to advance personal interests and will not shy away from telling the nation complete and deliberate falsehood as when he assured the nation that the 2010 examinations were not crisis-ridden. Thus, politics has transformed Khama from an energetic and imaginative good natured son of Seretse and Ruth Khama into a paranoid megalomaniac.
Yet, Khama the son of Seretse & Ruth Khama and not the son of the BDP, is a well meaning man with a heart for the less privileged. Unfortunately, President Khama is torn between leading the BDP and running the country. Often he easily succumbs to ill-advice from some evil hearted scoundrels to give priority to the BDP much against his conscience. When he takes decisions that are advantageous to the BDP, he invariably hurts the interests of the nation.
Consequently, President Khama is a tormented man, unable to enjoy a peaceful sleep. Important decisions are delayed owing to BDP bitch-fight politics; national goals are disfigured in order that they effectively serve political needs. In the midst of the quandary, the simplest problems and challenges become the most difficult to solve largely because Khama the politician suspects everyone including himself.
However, president Khama can still salvage his legacy to become the best president Botswana ever had.
All he needs to do if he wants to govern wisely is to disown the loathsome, back-stabbing and self-serving rabble-rousers that pass for advisors.
