The things they do; not even a dog can bark at them. I was shocked, though not totally surprised, that Roy Blackbeard is still in the United Kingdom serving as Botswana’s High Commissioner.
This December marks 14 years of his uninterrupted stay in London since he was appointed High Commissioner in 1998. He went there as a clean shaven 45 year old, but now Blackbeard is a whitebearded 59-year old-man and from the look of things, only death or the departure of President Khama will have him return to Botswana, and that’s if he still considers Botswana his home.
Blackbeard qualifies for a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest serving High Commissioner from Africa to the United Kingdom. There is, however, an explanation to Blackbeared’s permanent deployment to the UK.
It’s a deal. When Ian Khama joined politics in 1998, a sitting MP had to resign and make way for Khama. Blackbeard raised his hand when a call to sacrifice one MP was made.
For his benevolent gesture, Blackbeard was rewarded with a diplomatic post in the UK and it seems this reward is a lifetime one. For as long as Khama remains in politics, or rather as State President, it is going to be difficult for him to recall Blackbeard from the UK.
Khama and Blackbeard have made a deal. It was a case of scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
Look, Blackbeard resigned his parliamentary seat not because he no longer wanted to be in parliament but only because he had to make way for Khama. Blackbeard quit politics not because he had exhausted his political life span but only because he had to sacrifice his political life for Khama’s.
It will therefore be very difficult for Khama to have the guts to recall Blackbeard because Blackbeard will remind him that were it not for the favour he did for him, he would still be in parliament. Blackbeard would be justified in his argument because as a BDP member of parliament in the Serowe North constituency, he was sure to win elections and remain as MP for as long as he wanted or lived.
Afterall, in Serowe, anyone or even anything that stands on BDP ticket is guaranteed of a win at national elections. Khama cannot therefore convince Blackbeard that while he took over his job as MP back in 1998, he would no longer be in that position by now. Blackbeard is now serving under the third British Prime Minister and while he may look at it as some sign of achievement worth showing out teeth for; I doubt his hosts are impressed.
I doubt the British are amused to have someone deployed to their country for so many years as though he is the only capable person from Botswana. They must be bored with him already. I bet they already have nicknames for Blackbeard. You see, it could be that Blackbeard made it clear from the onset when he entered into a deal with Khama that he would serve in the UK and nowhere else.
I mean, why else would it be difficult for Khama to atleast fool us into believing there was never a deal with Blackbeard by atleast rotating him to different countries? The sad thing is, even with his donkey years in the UK, one cannot really point to anything positive out of Blackbeard’s office.
His performance comes nowhere near that of our representative in the United States of America. Tebelelo Seretse has been in the USA for less than two years but she has done a lot more to connect our country with the USA than Blackbeard has ever done in his 14 years in the UK.
Even when Botswana was faced with the challenge of parrying blows from Survival International, Blackbeard stood mouth-agape like a standard one pupil given a standard seven final exam. He was so blank our government even had to spend half a million Pula to hire public relations consultants to face Survival International even as we had a representative in the UK who we expected to handle all issues relating to Botswana, including the CKGR issue.
It is so evident Blackbeard is enjoying his stay in the UK. It looks Blackbeard feels more at home in the UK because he is the only High Commissioner who has remained in one country for so many years.
Infact even other High Commissioners who have moved through different countries have never spent so many years in their combined assignments as High Commissioners. Last year in parliament MP Nehemiah Modubule asked what was so special about Blackbeard to be allowed to stay in one post for so many years. Phandu Skelemani then answered that they had not found it necessary to move Blackbeard.
According to the online edition of the Mmegi newspaper, Skelemani also answered ‘yes’ when MP Wynter Mmolotsi asked him if there was any other High Commissioner apart from Blackbeard that had stayed in one country for that long. I hope the newspaper has misquoted him because otherwise it would mean we have a Minister who has no shame telling lies in parliament.
The minister was lying because there is no one who has stayed in that position, in the same country, for that long. It is also interesting that Skelemani further admits that the appointments and deployments of High Commissioners are the prerogative of the president yet he denies that Blackbeard’s appointment was not a reward for making way for Khama.
If the powers to appoint rests entirely with the president as Skelemani says, why then can’t Skelemani shut up and allow the president to answer as to why he appointed Blackbeard? I am even getting scared we might not be having a Motswana High Commissioner in the UK.
I mean, having stayed and worked in the UK for 14 years now, Blackbeard has long qualified to apply for British citizenship. You just need to have lived in the UK for five years to qualify to apply for citizenship. Who knows, maybe Blackbeard is now a British citizen. Afterall, Khama has also failed to prove to us that he has renounced his British citizenship. So it could be we have British nationals serving Botswana as President and High Commissioner.
