Allegations of an assassination hit-list and that Duma Boko begged President Ian Khama to join the ruling Botswana Democratic Party have in the past week laid bare the high levels of immaturity that are still frightfully pervasive among our politicians ÔÇô across the board. Unless substantiated with irrefutable proof, both of these allegations constitute a very dangerous game that threatens to undermine Botswana’s standing in the eyes of the international community.
For almost four weeks now the public has been gripped by such related allegations in one form or another, including more recently irresponsible and patently pedestrian response by ruling party functionaries. Everything else has been set aside as the nation grapples with this political madness. From the way it’s playing out, the tragicomedy has all been a story of denying and undermining public wisdom and intelligence by our politicians.
Spin doctoring is a common thread line that runs across the entire episode. We are showing all the signs of a country fast sliding into becoming banana republic. Of all the protagonists, the greatest loser, we want to point out has been the Office of the President. And here we are referring, not to anyone person but the institution which has been soiled by those who in their spirited quest to get even with political opponents forgot the cardinal rule to detach state authority from pointless party political talk. For the first time, the Office of President was directly dragged into this obscenity by BDP Secretary General, Mpho Balopi when in blind loyalty to his public relations and marketing background he made hasty and badly thought out allegations the effect of there is doubt he had fully internalized at the time.
Balopi said on two occasions, leader of opposition Duma Boko had approached President Khama begging to join the BDP. On both these occasions, added Balopi, President Khama pleaded with Boko to please not desert the opposition. At the risk of sounding churlish, this so undermines the intelligence of the public by Balopi that it almost amounts to blasphemy. For a man in his position, the nation deserves better. We want to urge restraint on all parties concerned. This is neither to say a hit-list does not exist nor that Boko never wanted to join the BDP. Rather it is to say that before making such inflammatory statements which have the potential to incite public disorder, politicians, including part-time ones like Balopi should at all times be careful to exercise restraint.
That unfortunately does not seem to have happened before opposition leaders made their staggering allegations, to start with. Restraint does also not seem to have been on their mind President Khama’s aides added their voices by making extra-hallucinatory allegations about Boko. The most painful reality of it all is that rank immaturity still festers in our politics. Still we were not done just yet. A day or so after Balopi’s shocker, the nation was treated to yet another round of political foolery. We listened as Gomolemo Motswaledi of the UDC and Sadique Kebonang of the BDP reduced themselves to fully-fledged amateur political clowns ÔÇô Motswaledi in his attempts to defend Boko and Kebonang in his attempts to be a kite-flier of his handlers against Boko. It was a pathetic show that would drive any right thinking person to hang their head in shame. Undermining a nation’s collective wisdom and getting away with it is what each of them, in varying degrees had planned to do.
Thankfully they both failed decimally. Motswaledi and Kebonang’s codeshared show altogether set a new kind of lows in how lightly the Botswana’s crop of politicians take the public for granted. Supposedly political adversaries, the two men were united by their contempt of the public as they mumbled from pillar to post not saying just what it was they wanted to communicate. The whole circus by the two politicians was predicated on obscene assumptions that the public is not wise enough to see through semantic trickery by politicians. That each of the two men is in different ways seen by their respective parties as the embodiment of the future underscores just how far we still have to go as a nation.
It is also evidence of just how far down the tube we have gone as a nation that these two politicians agreed to go on radio not having made up their minds what it was they wanted to say. This, in my view is too much beneath the standards that we should be expecting from individuals that are said to be rising political stars in their respective organizations. We deserve better. As a shorthand to outsiders who do not understand what is at stake, Motswaledi is standing as parliamentary in Gaborone Central against a very formidable and intellectually savvy Dumelang Saleshando, while Kebonang wants to wrestle Lobatse from an even more entrenched and lovable Nehemiah Modubule.
Thus it goes without saying that when both Motswaledi and Kebonang open their mouths in public, they at all times should understand what is at stake. But from the look of things, each of them was acting on amateurish instincts; Kebonang because the Office of President and the BDP wanted to use him to get even with Duma Boko. And Motswaledi because he was gleefully prepared to abuse and debase himself if only to show some measure loyalty to his comrade in arms, Duma Boko. In the end it was a show of political disgrace. And the two might yet pay a price for it all.
