The review of the alcohol levy will take time, but a local newspaper speculated, perhaps accurately, that there is to be an imminent change in the BDF’s leadership. The current BDF commander had expressed unqualified support for the purchase of the Swedish jet fighters maintaining that the country needed them, an opinion which clearly indicated where his personal loyalties lay. Simple, straight forward compliance, I suppose. Do what I want or lose your job. That particular leadership style appears to have been a characteristic of the last 10 years with compliance being the key word.
Bit by bit we are going to hear a great deal more about those who complied – are there any who didn’t? – to be followed by an inevitably growing list of those who didn’t know and can therefore not be held responsible. It is going to be fascinating to see how this all works out especially as the relationship between the current and past President must by now have hit absolute rock bottom and beyond. It has to be assumed that the former completely misread the latter. But how was that possible? So, who will make the next move? The ex-president is the Democratic Party’s Chairman and can still presumably do much damage to Masisi’s reforming agenda. But how is this to be fought out? Is it to be a no-holds-barred work out between the two with a winner takes all? But what kind of an, ‘all;’ might that be? The restoration of the monarchy, perhaps? Total control of the party or control of part of it with each bit backing their preferred leader and the five-party opposition assisted to sweep the next election. Or simply to an attempt to keep the lid on Pandora’s box? It may not come to this.
