I would have thought President Ian Khama has people who are specifically employed to advise him on what a president can and cannot say in public but as it stands, two things are apparent. It’s either he doesn’t have such advisors or they are just useless. Well, it could again be he just views them as lunatics not worth heeding their advice. I mean, more often our president makes public statements that are not so presidential. Some of his public comments have even made him the butt of jokes in the international world. For example, just recently an international television station featured the statements he made regarding his ideal woman where he made it clear he prefers a model-type of a woman. The presenters of the television show were baffled that a president could make fun of women he deemed unattractive for his choice. They mentioned how shocking it was for President Khama to have, in public, mentioned how he doesn’t want a plus-size woman because, according to him, such women are not good for his car’s shock absorbers. They were shocked that President Khama singled out Assistant Minister Botlogile Tshireletso as the kind of woman he would never be romantically associated with.
More shocking to the presenters was that Khama’s audience, made up of mainly women, laughed and ululated at his distasteful comments. I know that many people who giggle at some of President Khama’s sick run to the defence of jest but truly speaking, a person holding such a sacred position in society cannot be allowed to enjoy the same space with comedians. As president of the nation, Khama has to know that not everyone enjoys comedy. Khama as president has to know that his statements are given the importance and significance that comes with his position. Khama as president should understand that he is a role model to many and a lot of people who look up to him are likely to take his jokes seriously and abide by them. I was shocked that Batswana never took Khama to task when he professed his phobia for books. What kind of president is allowed to publicly declare his dislike for books in front of children? Believe me, some of the kids might have taken his word hook, line and sinker.
They have lost interest in books because Khama has come out to portray himself as an example of someone who climbed up the leadership ladder without paging through books. You cannot argue that kids are not likely to follow in Khama’s footsteps when already we have grown up men who are copying every of Khama’s ways. Khama’s Cabinet ministers are already copying his wardrobe and can be seen wearing his favourite sleeveless jackets, now known as “nyeletso lehuma” jackets. Come came and rode in the front seat of his official car and now ministers have also followed suit. Some of them have even grown their hair to match his afro look. Now if he can influence elderly men what makes us believe he cannot influence their children? Back to the Ndaba Gaolathe issue. Just recently President Khama addressed the public and told them that it is not true his government wants to assassinate opposition leaders. A president who is well coached would have stopped at that assurance. He would have just told Batswana that he has no problems with opposition leaders because they are doing what they ought to be doing in a democratic setup and as such their existence should be embraced. But hell no, our president went on to give reasons why he would not kill opposition leaders and this completely spoiled his assurance. Khama says the reason he would not kill opposition leaders is solely because bullets are expensive. I was shocked to the core. I wondered, so opposition leaders will only be saved by the high prices of bullets, otherwise if bullets were cheaper reasons for not killing them would be eliminated? What was President Khama really trying to communicate here? My mind got me thinking, but you do not necessarily need bullets to kill a person. People have been killed before without raining bullets on them. Khama seems to worry so much about the price of bullets and it worries me that this alone cannot be an assurance political assassinations can never happen because cheaper chemicals can be used where bullets are found to be more expensive to commit murder. It is for this reason that I’m still worried our president didn’t categorically dispel our fears and come out clean to say he would not even use a staged car accident to kill Ndaba or any of his political opponents. And I believe Khama when he says he will not use bullets to kill opposition leaders.
He surely learnt a lesson after the public uproar that came with the killing of John Kalafatis who, it appears, so much had to die no matter the high price of bullets. Dear Mr President, just don’t kill anyone. That’s the only assurance we want from you.
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