Over the independence holidays, I met some guy in Maun who told me that he archives all my columns. I say, if there is any of my columns that I would want my readers to safely archive, it is this one. It is important to keep this piece because come the year 2018, I may have to refer my readers to today’s column. Something tells me I will re-run this article in 2018 with a headline that reads “I told you so”. Look, I have said this before and I repeat, should he so wish not to step down when his term in office elapses in 2018, President Ian Khama will easily and unashamedly cling on to the presidency. Khama has done everything that will enable him to remain president for as long as he wants or at least, for as long as he lives. Khama will determine how long he stays as president and God will determine how long he lives and he may live for a very long time because bootlickers such as Assistant Minister Oreeditse Molebatsi have already asked God to subtract from his family members’ living years and add to Khama’s life span.(Thank God Molebatsi is not my father)
It has become evidently clear, over the years, that whatever Khama wants, Khama easily gets. Khama is a spoiled president who gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. Khama has mastered the art of ruling Batswana. When it comes to playing with the minds of Batswana, Khama comes next to none.
Not even these con-prophets who hypnotize the masses possess the powers that Khama has on Batswana. The voodoo that Khama spells on Batswana reduces prophets, magicians and witches to amateurs in the game. I have never seen a leader who always gets what he wants the way Khama does. Even Jesus Christ encountered a lot of resistance from the people. The most powerful president in the world, Barrack Obama is not having it easy either. Khama on the other hand gets whatever he wants, at the snap of his two fingers. Khama is so spoiled so much that I sometimes thank God for not blessing him with the same appetite as Mswati. Imagine what would be happening had Khama been a women’s man the same way Mswati is. He would have taken all the beautiful women in the country because like I already mentioned, what Khama wants Khama always gets and Batswana are always too keen to give him whatever he wants. We are therefore very fortunate that while he enjoys a lot of things and while he always gets all the things he likes and enjoys, our women are not in his list of acquisition. I assert that Khama has cleared his way to life presidency because of the many observations that I continue to see in his leadership style. Khama has made it a point that he becomes closer to the electorates more than the politicians who have been directly voted by those people. While his major role is to bring Botswana closer to the world, Khama has elected to neglect that role and instead he is on a crusade to bring Batswana closer to his name. Khama has assumed the role of MP’s and councilors and has relegated his main duties to Phandu Skelemani who is now a de facto president in that he has now become the face and voice of Botswana to the outside world. There could be a reason for all that. Look, Khama is a smart guy. Even if he may choose to extend his presidency, Khama will make sure the move is legitimate. He would not stubbornly refuse to step down like other African dictators. Khama will make sure that Batswana endorse his prolonged stay in the presidency and because he has managed to manipulate Batswana into believing he is some sort of a rare breed, Batswana are going to give him the green light. It is going to be very easy for him to do that.
Closer to 2018, when his term comes to an end, Khama may just hold Kgotla meetings around the country and tell Batswana that it is time they directly elected their own president. As usual, Batswana will ululate in approval. Khama has already hinted that he is not against electoral reforms, as long as Batswana agree to such reforms. Batswana have called for so many electoral reforms but just because Khama has no direct benefit to such reforms, he continues to ignore them.
Khama could be waiting for the right time to tell Batswana that he has decided to heed their request to allow for direct election of the State president, knowing too well he has already campaigned to be the first directly elected president. Khama is a politician and we all know the excuse that politicians use whenever they want to cling on to power. He will just tell us that he had intended to step down but the people have asked him to stay on. The role of the president is to be known and heard outside the country because a president has to be the country’s chief spokesperson. Instead of being our spokesperson in the international arena, Khama chooses to be heard and seen by the rural dwellers who in any case, constitute the majority of voters.
Khama has managed to fool the rural folk into believing he is the way, the truth and the life. They now believe they exist at his mercy. They have resigned their fate into his hands so much so that should he seek to be mandated the life presidency, he will easily get the nod from these poor souls. Khama has managed to do away with terms such as mananeo a ga Goromente (government policies) and nowadays it’s all about mananeo a ga Rraetsho (Khama’s policies). Organizations and individuals have been made to believe the only way to reach out to the needy is through Khama. Companies are busy building houses for the destitute and instead of handing them directly to the beneficiaries; they would rather have Khama be the one to hand over these houses and never acknowledge them in front of these beneficiaries. Even when they pray for rain, pastors point out that they are doing so because Khama has asked Batswana to pray for rain. Everything is about Khama and that is why it is viewed as a sin for anyone to declare their aspiration to take over from Khama. That is why even within the BDP ranks, no one has the guts to come out in the open and declare their interest in the presidency post Khama. Khama has managed to make Batswana believe that he is so special that he has to be given whatever he wants. A few days back, the minister of health, John Seakgosing was telling the people of Letlhakane that government didn’t have enough money to build them a clinic. They ululated and agreed that for them to get a clinic, they need to pray to God and not demand from government. Seakgosing made this announcement in the same week that Jeff Ramsay confirmed that government was going to spend millions of Pula to construct an airfield for President Khama in Mosu where he always vacations. Students in rural areas continue to be transported in open trucks because government claims there is no money to purchase buses.
This is the same government that has enough money to purchase a caravan worth 2 million Pula for the president. Government claims there is no money to equip kitchens in primary schools yet the same government has spent 180 thousand Pula in the purchase of cutlery for the president’s jet. Government can’t construct a single recreational facility in the city because, apparently, there is no money yet there is money to construct a mini BDF barracks at the State House, just for President Khama. Government has clamped down on alcohol consumption and availability just because Khama is a teetotaler. I can use the entire newspaper space to outline all the laws and regulations that have been implemented at the insistence of Khama. For as long as he so wishes, Khama will always have his way and Batswana will continue to live the only way Khama insists. That said, I do not blame Khama for abusing Batswana.
Given a chance to lead a docile and slumbering nation like ours, I would also take the advantage. As someone who never feels sorry for people who cling on to abusive relationships, I have no pity for Batswana because they tend to believe there is nothing they can do about this abuse by Khama. We seem to be a nation that gets turned on by abuse from our leaders.
