For a very long time, I have not been commenting on President Khama partly because I am convinced that the people to equally worry about are those who handle him.
However, he never stops amazing me with his weird antics. After reading the Daily News of 15 March 2012, in particular a story titled ‘Trio Assesses poverty level in Okavango’ I thought I should make a brief stopover at his office.
The story tells us that after visiting the villages of Mohembo East, Kaputura and Shaikarawe President Khama was so concerned about what he saw that he asked the Ministers of Local Government, Finance and Development Planning and Presidential Affairs and Public Administration to visit the area and assess the level of poverty to enable government to make better assessment of what need to be done and how to better people’s lives.
At times President Khama passes as a well trained veteran of dirty politics. Yet at other times it looks like he is sincerely concerned about the standard of living in the rural areas.
It seems to me that President Khama wants to make a difference in the lives of the rural people but does not have the faintest clue which leads him to experiment his bizarre development models and poverty eradication schemes with the poor and marginalized.
I have no much problem with President Khama’s endless tour of the country side because that is one way for leaders to connect with the people by modeling behavior, especially because President Khama command considerable respect in the rural areas across the political divide. I also do not have a problem with President Khama demanding that services be delivered promptly in accordance with standard procedures and processes.
But for President Khama to assign Ministers to assess the level of poverty is unbelievable and patently absurd and cynical.
The ministers tour of the villages was absolutely unnecessary and a waste of public resources. What special skills do they have that would help them dig out some critical information that is beyond the reach of extension officers? Other than throwing their weights around and over-indulging in undue interference in the affairs of professionals, what value would their haphazard observations add to what is already in the public domain?
They can convene a poverty pitso but that would be a mere formality and waste of time because issues that are likely to be raised are already known even to President Khama himself.
Could this be a political gimmick to con the people of the three lucky villages into believing that President Khama cares about them? Of course, desperation does tempt people to do things that border on the ridiculous. I don’t want to believe that President Khama wants to equate his hands-on leadership philosophy with the so-called ‘seeing is believing’ approach espoused by atheists who say they want to see God for themselves before they become believers.
You see, districts submit regular reports on almost every aspect of development; from abandoned projects to the number of destitute persons including those who threaten to commit suicide if you dare tell them that they have graduated from destitution. These reports are written to inform those who care to know about progress being made and to communicate failures and challenges so that appropriate action is taken.
I can’t just understand which information the Ministers are required to dig out that could have been missed in the reports. These reports are compiled by highly skilled and experienced technocrats using a simple template designed by senior officers of Khama’s government to ensure that no essential information is left out. The reports pass through various competent structures that function as clearing houses to pick out critical areas of concern. They are then forwarded to the relevant higher authorities for action. Thus, I strongly believe that all the information that the Three Musketeers have been tasked to get is somewhere in confidential files in simple and unambiguous terminology.
The numbers of people who require to be registered as destitute persons are readily available somewhere. The National Poverty Profile provides a picture of the level and nature of poverty by region. The challenges that inhibit the extension personnel from executing their mandates have been spelt out in countless documents in simple straightforward language.
This being the case, we can safely conclude that president Khama’s decision to send out his lieutenants to carry out an inspection is a clear indication that he does not have faith in the civil servants and by extension, in his Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP). Report writing is an integral part of their work and when their reports are disregarded with such impunity, it resembles a loud motion of no confidence in their abilities and I fear that at the end of this laughable politically motivated expedition, their morale will be at an all time low. They have been publicly ridiculed and shamed by the Head of State.
Of course, this is one of those special talents that President Khama uses to demean government officers and at the same time bewitch poor people to see the devil as an angel. It is a cruel insult laced with deceitful political pomposity and unapologetic scorn.
Another likely scenario is that the big bosses do not care to read these reports which could mean that such loads of information is collated just to satisfy some bureaucratic requirements. Or could it mean that President Khama has seen more than he bargained for? Sometimes in January 2012, President Khama was at Xai Xai settlement giving away 25 houses to the poor. I had thought that this is one of the places whose inhabitants literally live with brutal poverty. However, on that occasion, President Khama was never shaken. Thus, if indeed his concerns about poverty in respect of the said villages are genuine, he must have seen something unimaginable; something akin to famine.
However, even if it is true that the level of poverty in these villages is abnormal, it would be very sad that interventions have to wait for President Khama to see poverty before any decisive action is taken. It could set a precedent to others who believe that they are worse off to petition President Khama to visit their villages and see poverty for himself. Henry David Thoreau reminds us that ‘It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things’.
