Although BDP insiders will never publicly go on record over it, there is no missing the consensus that, though not by design, Vice President Ian Khama has created a largely independent power base inside the Office of the President.
For a greater part of the time, he exerts his power and influence out of public view, behind the scenes in meetings with officials and cabinet ministers.
The Vice President is universally presented as the most powerful figure inside both cabinet and the ruling party, by far overshadowing his principal, President Festus Mogae, in both influence and popular appeal.
Ten years ago and only a few months into his office and against all known convention, the Vice President started pulling tantrums when he demanded sabbatical leave.
Mogae duly acquiesced.
It was the beginning of a ten year special relationship that would be characterised by a President timidly dancing to every tune hummed by his deputy.
The controversial leave sparked fierce suspicions that unbeknown to the nation the two men (Mogae and Khama) had struck a deal behind the scenes as a sweetener to lure Khama into politics.
Although the son of the founding President, Ian Khama had never made a secret of his disdain for politics. He was only lured into politics by people who needed him. As a result, they had to sacrifice their arm and foot to get his participation.
Observers point out that without Khama, Mogae stood no chance.
“To survive, the president needed some kind of a bouncer to protect him. And Khama was that wall,” says a senior BDP member who, like everyone else, would not speak on record for fear of annoying Khama.
A strong belief reigned inside the BDP that on his own, Mogae would not survive against the well known hostile names that controlled and manipulated the party at the time.
Against the wall and faced with mounting criticism, Mogae was forced to beg his deputy back. But a point had been made that some trade-offs had possibly been made as inducements for Khama to join politics.
The conspiracy of a secret deal grew a new set of teeth when, as a precondition for his return from sabbatical leave, Ian Khama demanded that he be made a defacto Prime Minister responsible for supervising all other ministers.
This effectively meant that he would no longer be answerable to parliament ÔÇô another precedent under his belt.
Putting on a brave face, Mogae announced to parliament that he had recalled Khama.
The President further promised regular reports from his deputy.
A few months later he called his colleagues in parliament and cabinet “vultures.” Mogae found nothing wrong with that.
Ten years on, Members of Parliament are still grumbling behind the scenes that no report has been forthcoming from the VP and the president is not saying a word.
This has provided fodder for the opposition who routinely take jibes at the President for being a “junior partner.”
All doubts over the existence of a deal between Khama and Mogae were buried when, against all traditions, President Mogae went public to endorse Khama against Ponatshego Kedikilwe for the Chairmanship of the party, igniting what turned out to be the longest and most intense factional strife the BDP has ever known.
Although he was later to apologise, irreparable damage had been done.
While there is no questioning that Khama is the most powerful Vice President in the country’s history, by far overshadowing the president in both popularity and influence, that popularity is often more a source of problem than solutions.
BDP insiders complain that against his desire, Khama has effectively created a second power centre inside the party so much so that some ministers treat him as a defacto President, preferring to defer to him than to the aloof and intellectually disposed incumbent.
There are conflicting accounts; it is said that when it comes to cabinet appointments and reshuffles, President Mogae literally abdicates his constitutional mandate to his No.2.
This is difficult to verify because though wielding extensive powers in both the civil service and the ruling party, obscurity and fondness for secrecy have, for the last ten years, remained the leading hallmarks of Khama’s Vice Presidency.
While it would be somewhat crude and unkind to say Khama pulls Mogae by the nose, there is some truth in that the special relationship between the two men has throughout the ten years of their partnership been heavily tilted in favour of Khama.
Khama’s steely, unreadable face attracts both fear and admiration.
“The truth of the matter is that he is more feared than respected,” says a senior civil servant who has interacted with Khama.
Speaking strictly on condition of anonymity, civil service insiders say accountable only to the President, even whom on some occasions he circumvents, Ian Khama has been dominant in every major decision taken by Mogae government in the last ten years.
Khama’s influence has been increasing as Mogae’s days as president draw to a close, with some in cabinet literally shifting their allegiance directly to him in anticipation of the arrival of the new President.
Central as to be indispensable to Khama’s operations is his Private Secretary, Isaac Kgosi, officially a Colonel in the army whose secondment to the VP has rubbed the opposition the wrong way.
Not only is Kgosi a close friend to the Vice President, more than anyone else in government Kgosi knows what his master likes and dislikes.
Khama’s unconventional ways of administration have also not endeared him to civil servants he likes to push around.
Upon becoming Vice President, he introduced what he called an open door policy, inviting the public to come to his office with their complaints.
That almost created a run on his office.
It was a well meaning gesture, which inevitably was bound to cause clashes with the mandarins in the civil service.
Used to civil service power and clear chains of protocol, it was not long before civil service mandarins started complaining that the Vice president’s new gesture was undermining the rules and regulations of administration.
Khama never speaks in parliament, which, in any case, he seldom attends. When he does attend, it does seem like his massive presence is on its own enough. The only time he speaks is when he implores MPs to exercise restraint with their regular calls for higher perks.
Other than his obsession against increasing MPs salaries; a theme that has gripped his passion since he arrived into politics, little else is known about Ian Khama.
This has inevitably invited scorn from opposition who have turned him into a punching bag.
