Who may be �lost souls?�

His Excellency Lieutenant General Ian Khama was in his element, at the BDP national council on April 4, 2014 in the city of Gaborone. He radiated confidence after his unanimous reelection as the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leader. Who wouldn’t be flattered by this overwhelming support while buffeted from all sides by winds of criticism fanned by scandals at BMC, Fengyue, Morupule B, corruption-prone cabinet ministers, splitting-headache party primary elections, Mosugate, the education system that harks back to the days of the cave-man and hunter-gatherer when our primordial ancestors lived from hand to mouth and the uncertain tomorrow was in the hands of fickle nature? Who wouldn’t be?

Thus flattered the president could utter words of a conquering general: “I will not apologise……I am not a dictator? ... ” I this, I that, me.., my..!  He went on to describe his critics as “frustrated lost souls in the opposition…” Lost souls according to the bible end up in hell, the eternal fire. One prays this hell-fire was real and there was the afterlife! ‘Lost souls’ depicted on earth by the president would swap places with those who see ‘lost souls’ in their critics on earth. Unthinking, the president contradicts himself when he states: ‘I will not apologise’…. And then bluffs, ‘I am not a dictator! ’Well, people who won’t apologise are worse than Oscar Pistorius, who kills his girlfriend, sobs in court to apologise to her family under cross-examination in court! Those who won’t apologise for what they are being criticised or indicted for, can’t be less than dictators. By denying he is a dictator, yet struts around swearing he won’t apologise when his mistakes are fingered, implies he is a top brass dictator!

Dictator is someone who thinks he/she is always right; someone who is beyond reproach, an infallible person on par with the pope of Rome when he interprets church doctrine. Khama is not the pope when he interprets democracy and its principles. Imagine Idi Amin Dada, Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin apologising to anybody for anything; wouldn’t it be a contradiction in terms? Only a democrat says mea culpa when wrong; when he/she is right he/she need not apologise since the majority will bear witness to his story, but when criticised he/she must pause and check whether he/she may be wrong. “I will not apologise….I am not a dictator,” betrays a dictator incarnate!

Editor's Comment
Inspect the voters' roll!

The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...

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