One of these disagreements came when an idea to form a shadow cabinet was mooted.
“KK, unfortunately, was of a different mind. In his characteristically dismissive way of handling issues he less favoured, he thought the concept of a shadow cabinet was polemical and controversial, therefore undesirable,” Dingake writes in his book, The Politics of Confusion.
“Once his mind was fixed on something, however unsustainable, it was very difficult to dislodge him. Later, when eleven MPs fell out with him, we were not surprised to learn that among his denunciations of the group was that the eleven, in league with their ambitious wives, were already imagining themselves in ostentatious positions and playing majestic roles as cabinet ministers, wives of ministers, owners of big houses, big cars etc.”
The other source of difference was the suggestion that BNF MPs make monthly contributions of P1000, and P500 for councillors, to the party coffers. Dingake writes that he felt this was unachievable given the low remuneration for elected leaders (P4 000 for MPs, and P1 200 for councillors) at the time, and the fact that even in the previous Parliament, the three BNF MPs (including Koma) had consistently defaulted on their monthly pledge of P200. Instead, he proposed that the MPs be asked to contribute P300, and councillors P50.
“The President happened to share the view of those who felt the steeper contributions were affordable and should be agreed upon.”
In the run-up to the 1997 congress, Koma is alleged to have proposed that to the Executive Committee be returned to office en bloc. Dingake writes that he was taken aback by this “attempt at undemocratic imposition of leadership”, and rejected it.
Dingake describes Koma as very unconventional, and unpredictable. “KK makes no bones about his belief in the occult science, whatever the world thinks about superstition. …At the same time KK is known to be a keen student and follower of Karl Marx, who in his philosophies has dubbed religion ‘the opium of the people’. How does the man’s head lie easy with all these weighty contradictions? …Perhaps this could be the mark of the genius in him.”
