2008 was meant to have been a different year for Botswana because it was the year many Batswana became fully convinced that they have been blessed with a state president who had the image of God and that his presidency was a natural thing for the country.
Like decorated idiots with the twin tragedy of being mentally challenged, many of us bought into this fantasy and raised our expectations to unrealistic heights.
But within a very short space of time, President Khama and his government showed their true face as Botswana became one of the worst places to live in. Khama’s government created problems everywhere.
It began with a vicious crackdown on entertainment, followed by a symbolic civil war between the government and public sector workers and it has never stopped raining.
The economy is getting worse as the government blames it on recession. Even when it became apparent to rabid conservatives within the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) that they can no longer blame it on the recession, they still maintained that Khama’s government was the magic wand. Yet every sector of the economy is in free fall while our democracy is being publicly defiled. The erstwhile African empire that is Botswana is crumbling very fast.
Just ask anyone who worked on the frontline under previous BDP governments and they will tell you, while sobbing hysterically, that there has never been a worse time to be a civil servant than under President Khama’s government.
The cruel treatment of public sector workers means that Khama’s government is the worst employer, even worse than a coldblooded, ruthless master who would coerce his housekeeper to have sex with his dog. The quality and resilience of economic recovery and long term prosperity depends on a motivated professional public service, especially in a developmental state such as ours. The civil service as the engine for economic recovery and future prosperity must at all times be efficient yet ours has been corrupted by political patronage and disgraced more often than necessary to the extent that their only concern is their immediate livelihoods. It does not matter how you judge this government. If you judge it by how it behaves as an employer, service provider, human rights protector, and so forth, this is the worst BDP government in the history of Botswana, and unfortunately, it is becoming more dreadful and unbearable.
The one notable thing about this callous government is its unwillingness to concede to reasonable demands such as civil servants wage increase, basic electoral reforms, constitutional review, and so forth and this is due to fear of being thought of as weak, which itself is a sure sign of weakness and a small-minded leadership.
My judgment of the current BDP government as the worst ever should not be misconstrued to imply that I ever held past BDP governments in high esteem. Rather the point is that previous BDP governments, in spite of their incompetence, at least did things vaguely well. They fumbled their way through fairly successfully.
Sir Seretse Khama may have left us a satanic constitution but his visionary leadership bequeathed us political independence and laid down a solid foundation for prosperity.
Sir Ketumile Masire may have been wrong with his automatic succession (to the state presidency) puke but he still did make a difference to make Botswana a better place for all.
Festus Mogae was, in many people’s eyes, reluctant to govern and perhaps by extension reluctant to mess up our republic but he had brains and engaged world leaders on issues pertinent to the future of our republic.
All of them, Seretse, Masire and Mogae were to some extent at least aware and appreciative of their limitations and essentially down to earth. This attitude permitted them to embrace knowledgeable technocrats and allow them to play a decisive role in governance, including making thoughtful and constructive policy changes in the nation’s best interest. Not the current lot who seem to be under the spell of evil demons.
Their individual and collective decisions are rendering Botswana a doomed country even worse than a tiny village that has been ravaged by extraordinary floods. We are finished!
Surely, the Khama government is interesting. It is cruel, ‘caring’, corrupt, irresponsible, arrogant, incompetent and appalling all at the same time. They can concoct falsehoods to publicly humiliate their own and a little while later publicly announce that their jewel is back.
They can dupe citizens into believing that the opposition is preparing for a civil war and just get away with it. They have no shame to lay claim to your vote while their misrule has ensured that you live in a ruined traditional hut that looks like a porcupine’s hole.
At the core of their incompetence is President Khama and his Ministers’ absolute lack of understanding of what governing is. They are so clueless like goats that would leave their kraal and disappear into the jungle to escape predators. It is now a defining feature of the BDP that they find it honourable to pick loud-mouthed indiscreet bullies as Cabinet Ministers who then resort to insults and abusive language once they are confronted with challenging situations that require a mere average mind. A good number of them have been discredited by repeated howlers yet the BDP always defends them to the hilt in a manner equivalent to state bullying of citizens.
I have no doubt that President Khama is a nice, charming guy but this country requires more than just a good-looking President; it requires someone who takes things seriously. Never something to be spoken publicly, it is a fact that President Khama is a mere beneficiary of an unrelenting feud in the BDP that compelled the party to look for any disciplinarian cobbler not aligned to any of the party factions. Thus, it cannot be said that President Khama’s elevation to the party and state presidency was founded on the cardinal principle of ‘the best shall lead’.
Now bring into the equation the intellectual capacity of a majority of Khama’s cabinet ministers and the pieces of the puzzle fall into place in ways that explain why the donation of blankets is such a ground-breaking, distinguished discovery ÔÇô an unmatched innovation of the twenty-first century.
Other than achieving the remarkable feat of precipitating a doomed economy; a fated education that breeds destitute persons and enthusiastic beggars; repeatedly humiliating civil servants; institutionalizing corruption and fast forwarding Botswana to hell, what has Khama’s government achieved so far?
Khama’s government has wrought such tragedy and grief in our country that they deserve to be christened as legendary sadists.
