For a country that prides itself as one of the oldest democracies in Africa, it amazes me how its people tolerate a situation where the state president does as he pleases. President Khama is virtually above the law or, should I say, he is, in fact, the law. I can’t speak for everyone but I know for certain that I speak for enough of my fellow Batswana.
While it has been said with monotonous regularity, it still bears repeating that President Khama has an excessive love to do things his own way, specifically to put the interest of our country last. Whereas he never tires to remind the nation that ‘we are united by shared values and aspirations, as well as a firm commitment to democracy and the rule of law’ (H. E the Presidents’ 2012 Botswana Day Message), it is now obvious that the very rule of law that he points out as forming the pillars of our republic is an inconvenience that gets in the way of his grand plan to plant his agents literally everywhere so that he could freely as he pleases.
By his actions, he is telling us ÔÇô and boisterously so ÔÇô that he is the president; he does and gets whatever he wants; he doesn’t account to anyone; that all of us have to suck it up or ship out. He doesn’t give a damn and doesn’t have to explain his actions to anyone who pretend to be a bona fide citizen of Botswana. In short, he has waged a relentless war against his desperate but sheepish people.
Actually, I have never held any of our presidents in high esteem (specifically because they were more interested in BDP continued rule than in making Botswana a better place to live in) even though they had my unlimited respect but honestly I have never been so upset by the way President Khama goes about his official business. I have never seen this kind of behavior and attitude in any of our former pretenders to the presidency.
I always thought that this kind of behavior was confined to some despicable bandits in some parts of Africa where tyrannical regimes are an established convention. While I had always opined that Botswana under President Khama was joining the proud club of failed states, I never imagined for a moment that it could be so soon.
It is a painful reality which perhaps explains why developed nations that used to treat Botswana citizens as an exception in Africa by exempting us from stringent Visa requirements have started placing travel restrictions on us.
The truth is that Botswana has become a rogue state made up of decent thugs especially at the top. Forget about the suspicions on the credibility of our passport, the real problem lies in what we have become.
After all we have enjoyed visa exemptions while still using one of the most susceptible passport in the world so it beats imagination that a vastly improved techno-savvy passport could render us suspects. When Robert Mugabe became an evil pigheaded tyrant, Zimbabweans were somewhat graphically designed in his image and everywhere they went, they were unfairly treated as evil murderers even the humblest of all Zimbabweans. Simply put, the state of governance under Robert Mugabe gave them a bad name. It is now Batswana’s turn.
I am pretty sure that enough of my fellow Batswana have had enough but can do nothing which is why everyone including many of those who are strongly opposed to the way President Khama conduct the affairs of the republic seem to be resigned to fate because it is with his constitutional powers to do as he pleases.
There are no institutional restrictions on presidential powers hence we have an imperial president so self-involved and with a passionate lust for ridiculous and laughable decisions. And it seems the only person who can dig us out of this rat hole is President Khama himself because even though many of us feel scandalized and embarrassed by his style of rule, we lack the spine to take on him. Occasionally we make murmurs of disapproval but certainly we are half dead; humiliated aliens who nevertheless pretend to be a decent people.
Of course every leader has a weakness. For instance, we are told that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had a weakness for appointing males with pretty faces. President Khama must be having a weakness for taste of absolute power hence his imperial impulses and rogue conduct. He has a penchant to bend the rule of law or altogether disregard it to get whatever he want including appointing like-minded people who add no value in government.
I wouldn’t care much if President Khama does as he pleases, including appointing people with the lowest intelligent quotient as long as it in no way takes the only place I call my country to the dogs. However, I am appalled by his fondness to flagrantly skirt the rule of law and established norms by claiming executive privilege. I am appalled by his lack of respect and honesty to the nation.
The Devil’s Dictionary comes in handy to help us appreciate the often concealed disposition of our President and it defines the president as ‘a temporary chief, elected by the leaders of a party of political bandits, for the purpose of dividing the spoils amongst them’. Exactly what we are witnessing!!
Compare and contrast the Botswana situation with the South African one. South African President Jacob Zuma’s decision to use his prerogative to make a questionable appointment of the National Director of Prosecutions in 2009 was challenged by the opposition at the Constitutional Court.
The court recently ruled that President Zuma was meant to have taken a rational decision, and that no rational person could have concluded that the appointee was suitable for such a crucial post. The court subsequently declared the appointment invalid. It makes you envious!
It is tragic and dangerous that President Khama should assume that his executive powers take precedence over all other considerations.
We all know that power corrupts and now with like-minded people in key positions, we ought to prepare for the worst.
