Pure bred Batswana, if indeed there are such individuals, accord the speech and the speech maker a role and an importance which is more normally to be found in many pre-literate societies. Indeed it is today fairly routine for a prestige occasion, and not just funerals, to be organised around the speeches of five, six or even seven different speakers, all of whom would regard it as unreasonable and irregular to be asked to limit their comments to a five minute timetable. Lincoln could pull it off at Gettysburg before an audience which was just settling down to hear the expected hour or two of oratorical flourish. This was therefore startled to discover that he had already finished before they were fully aware that he had even begun. It is possible that many paper citizens will never be able to acquire the characteristics, the tastes and preferences of the genuinely born and breds and may well admit, when pressed, that of the two speeches made at Gettysburg they much prefer the Lincoln model rather than that of his co-speaker, Edward Everett who was on the floor for the customary couple of hours. Apologetically therefore I have to admit that extremely long state of the nation or budget speeches are not normally listed as a 'must' in my normal routines. But having got that far, I must add that, having watched on Btv perhaps half of the President's recent State of the Nation address, I have subsequently read the lot - and found it to be full of interesting and exciting proposals. Presumably many of these derived from the high level Economic Advisory Council Think Tank - otherwise what might be its role or value? This column allows me an opportunity, albeit limited, to mention a few of those proposed changes which I particularly welcomed. Probably the mostest and the bestest is the rationalization, at last, of the two government bodies responsible for housing and water.
The division of responsibility for water has long been quite baffling. I was hugely intrigued by the proposal to create a 200,000 peopled agro-town in the Pandamatenga area but hope that we will soon be told more about the nuts and bolts of this idea. I was also delighted to learn that government's commitment to forestry concerns is far from being as dead as I had previously believed but hope that in future the department will inform the public about its all the year round activities. I also hope that the government will widen its approach to culture and heritage so that the universities, not least, with their research capabilities, are drawn into this new found interest area, rather than being disassociated from it. In the past, BDP governments have been acutely wary of anything suggestive of ethnic difference, being obviously fearful of unleashing from the past a range of pent up divisive resentments which would prove difficult to control. Seemingly, the President now, in encouraging and supporting local and regional forms of cultural expression has deliberately reversed that policy. If this is so, the implications are of much interest because the attitudes, beliefs and traditions of culturally varied societies and communities cannot be contained within limited forms of expression be it traditional dance, choirs, art, music, poetry - they will always seek further opportunities of expression. President Khama is obviously well aware of those possible problems and instead of continuing to dodge them has decided to tackle them head on. This could be both very interesting and very important. But perhaps I have this wrong. But it does seem to me that he has decided that he himself is strong enough to make that huge policy leap from denying diversity to recognizing and encouraging it. But in coming to that conclusion, he must also have decided that the country itself is now so strong and confident in itself that he can open it up without the slightest danger of it becoming fragmented. If this is a correct interpretation, the next few years could be of exceptional interest.
