In an ideal world, the first lady is a person who happens to be closest to the president.
The role has become even more difficult today where the first lady is watched right round the clock.
Social media has contributed in making the job even more difficult.
One often wants to use that role to unite the nation using causes that are neither divisive nor political.
She could choose to be an advocate for health related issues like nutrition, anti-tobacco, physical activity and the like.
A first lady could become the face of a fight against poverty, an advocate for education or related causes.
In her early days as First Lady, Neo Jane Masisi sought to use her position to advance the causes of the girl child, women and help fight the scourge of Gender Based Violence.
That was really admirable.
She seems to have already lost steam.
We urge her to consider going back to those causes.
They would do with a champion of her stature.
It would seem like her good intensions have fallen victim to her extreme ambitions.
Those ambitions get out of control because Ms. Masisi looks like a strong willed character who fights fire with fire and would not shy away from intervening in her husband’s official duties for her to get what she wants.
A picture of Ms. Masisi huddled in a small space with senior government officials at the United Nations has caused a stir on social media.
Other people are angry that she should not even be there.
The question is where should she be?
Is there space provided for first ladies at the United Nations?
To be sure, that is so because we are an extremely polarized society. And President Masisi has played no small role in that.
If we were a united society, the picture would have elicited admiration and even patriotism.
There is no point in spelling out the duties of the first lady in the constitution as is the case with that of a president.
But given the divisive nature of politics these days, a way has to be found to say just what the first lady’s role is.
Her role has to be codified.
This will draw the line so that government officials would also know what they are expected to do and not do for her and in her presence.
That is especially important with Ms. Masisi because she wants to behave like she is a co-president.
It was not always so with Lady Olebile Masire or Barbara Mogae.
Lady Olebile opted to concentrate on the youth. Her legacy still remains.
Ms. Mogae opted to fight for the empowerment of women.
Ms. Masisi has to make up her mind on what she wants to do.
She also needs to decide on the extent to which she is prepared to share her husband with politics and the nation.
If she wants her husband all to herself, she can tell him to quit politics and stay with him at home.
If she wants to share him with the country, then she has to accept that she will give him space to make decisions with little interference unless she is asked to tender advice.
Nobody doubts that she is a professional who had to leave her career to come and support her husband.
The United States first lady is a teacher and professor.
But she has chosen to support her husband all the away.
She does so by not attempting to be a co-president.
That is because she does not want to rub the wrong way other politicians around the president.
If she does that the president would end up siding with her against other politicians.
In fact a former president of the United States Ronald Reagan famously sacked his Chief of Staff after he had said something deemed unpleasant by the first lady.
