On Monday President will deliver the State of the Nation Address.
Ordinarily, this is a very important event as it is through it that t6he President will address the nation on what his social and economic vision for the country.
As a country, we are going through a suite of various social and economic problems.
Some of these problems are not necessarily unique to us as a country.
But the there are those that are in many ways unique to us.
The ongoing water problems are something that the Head of state will no doubt dwell on.
The same applies to electricity issues.
The nation waits to hear what new initiatives, if any, Botswana Government has to ensure these difficulties subside.
But there is yet another thing that is often lacking in the State of the Nation addresses over the years.
Many of these speeches lack context.
They are such that the nation is not able to link and context with previous speeches.
This anomaly needs to be corrected if the public is to start taking these speeches as seriously as it was in the past.
In every speech the President makes announcements, promises, and undertakings.
It is only natural that some such announcement would not be achieved.
There is nothing to ashamed of that.
What is important is to show and demonstrate the will.
And there is no better demonstration of such will than accounting honestly to the publicly why they have not achieved.
This is what the president should strive to show on Monday as he stands before the nation to deliver his SONA.
He should recount what big promises were made last year.
And also state what of those has been achieved and what has not.
It is important for the Head of State to get even with the public.
That enhances the integrity of the speech, but also takes the nation into confidence.
That is what the President should aim to achieve.
Additionally, he should try to use the speech to rally the nation together and strive to unite the nation.
Accepting failures is often a sign of strength.
It is also an invitation of trust to those that make up the audience.
That is exactly what President Khama should aim to achieve on Monday.
There is no doubt that as a politician he will not resist the temptation to take a jibe at his opposition.
That is normal. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But as incumbent, the president has to accept that those sitting on the opposing side are legitimate components of our democracy.
He can differ with them, but still go on to acknowledge them.
That is not only important; it also is a sign of statesmanship.
