OP’s costly mistakes
Dolly Byrone Thebe | Monday September 6, 2021 06:00
It was at a well attended kgotla meeting in Serowe to bid outgoing president farewell in 2018, that Khama confidently told the whole world that Botswana would be a better country to live in under Masisi's capable hands of Masisi. “Go tsile go nna monate mo Botswana” (it is going to be nice in Botswana, Khama assured the anxious nation). True to character the ever-confident Masisi, who never runs short of words started his presidential business effective April 1, 2018 with a barrage of promises, which hitherto remain unfulfilled. And time is running out and the nation’s anxiety and impatience are understandably growing while the man’s popularity is wearing off.
Like a house on fire, he (Masisi) began his work but hardly three-years down the line the man is misfiring and scoring own goals with monotonous regularity. His story could be likened to that of a Biblical unwise man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. It is therefore not really a farfetched idea for scribes and political pundits to begin to doubt Masisi’s political journey. But what could have been responsible for the sudden change of fortunes? If seriously and objectively seeking answers we need not look beyond the man himself and those cronies he surrounded himself with.
The man is suffering from self-inflicted afflictions. Period.
He is his own worst enemy. For starters, his approach to matters of government was fundamentally flawed. The man, just like the character Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s worldwide acclaimed novel “Things Fall Apart” does not have his own self-identity. In the text, Okonkwo simply portrays himself as an exact opposite of his effeminate father and so Masisi who has read enough English literature may have taken a leaf from Okonkwo to appear an exact opposite of Khama. This unfortunate path brought about consequences his government and the nation are presently grappling with. The adversarial and uncompromising stance the self-styled new government took against Khama influenced a lot, including formation of Cabinet, appointments and release of senior officers in the public service and election of members of Parliament under the special nomination dispensation. Effectively, once could say Masisi inadvertently made Khama to rule from the grave.
This is because it seems every decision made had (have) to be conscious of the prevailing anti Khama sentiments. Those who made noise, however little, against Khama were handsomely rewarded with positions. Dorcas Makgatho, Kitso Mokaila and Comma Serema joined the chorus against Khama and were rewarded with diplomatic postings. Those suspected to be allies or sympathetic to Khama's cause were left in the cold, to rot and dry up. Here lies Masisi’s tragic mistake. The nation witnessed with some concern how seasoned politicians with proven track record in public life were sidelined for Cabinet appointments. There was Nonofo Molefhi who could have been brought back into Cabinet under the special nomination ticket to prop up and assist Masisi to consolidate his power while also giving the nation value for money. Instead Masisi took decisions predicated upon a desire to assemble a Cabinet comprising a cabal of fellow warriors and comrades in arms against the former president. Some of these appointees because of inexperience and political immaturity are busy digging Masisi’s political grave.
The weakest link is none other than the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Kabo Morwaeng and his deputy Dumezweni Mthimkhulu. The office that Morwaeng holds /mis-holds is a big and influential one. It is actually the face of government. Giants who held that office before include Ian Khama, Daniel Kwelagobe, Lesego Motsumi, Masisi and Nonofo Molefi, Ponatshego Kedikilwe.
These were carefully selected people with extensive and rich experience in public life. God knows how on earth Masisi settled for little known and inexperienced Morwaeng and his number two to assume such coveted and taxing posts. Morwaeng and his deputy spent a huge chunk of their time and energies in the private sector and have no experience in public life. What sort of advice was Masisi expecting from the two manning the Office of the President? They are simply excelling in what they know best and appointed to do- attacking Khama, bootlicking, cheerleading and stomaching everything that the President says or thinks without scrutiny. And what are the results? Examples are not hard to find as the writing is on the wall for everyone to see.
A failing health system, extravagant expenditure on non priority areas like the much talked about acquisition of an 8km by 21km huge chunk of land for the construction of a luxurious presidential resort as well as procurement of Tautona Lodge from a former Cabinet Minister at a whopping cost of close to P60 million. This is exactly the reward Masisi wanted to get when pushing meritocracy into the background and appointing charlatans in the coveted presidency. Morwaeng and his deputy’s contributions in Parliament are wanting and these two are a bad combination in so far as tackling national challenges is concerned. A sad episode was the appointment of Slumber Tsogwane to the position of Vice President.
Unless he does something quick to redeem his battered political image, Tsogwane would go down into the annals of Botswana history as the worst mistake ever to occur in our democracy.
The man does not have a good grasp of issues and is not equal to the task. All he does is to use his powers as the Leader of the House in Parliament to disrupt and interrupt valuable contributions from the opposition through his endless point of orders. His appointment was a big surprise and the man probably did not see it coming. All he is doing is to show sheepish loyalty to the President and join the fray against the former president. It’s like the former president became one of the flagship programmes of the new regime. Now that corruption allegations that the regime linked to Khama are falling apart, one does not know where the regime is going to shift its focus. A good vice president is the one who can have a restraining influence on his principal.
Tsogwane is a yes man, the head of the orchestra established to hero worship and sing songs of praise in the name of the President at every turn. Meanwhile, there was nothing wrong in replacing Isaac Kgosi as the head of the DIS. Top civil servants and cabinet serve at the pleasure and behest of the President. But his replacement, Peter Magosi appears to be worse than Kgosi. He seems to be using his office to weed out those he does not like or to undermine political adversaries of his boss. But his actions have brought more harm than good to the President. If Batswana are gathering grounds for voting out Masisi, one of them will surely be the presence of Magosi.
The Office of the President has suffered a lot of reputational damage. The President himself should take much of the flack for wrong Cabinet appointments. Even though the President is committing glaring mistakes, none of the Cabinet members would tender resignation because in this country, people generally choose to hang on. In other jurisdictions, on matters of principle, Cabinet resignations are not uncommon.
So far in the present government, only one former Cabinet Minister Unity Dow left at her own accord resigned. Her resignation should be a subject of further interrogation because there seems to be more than what meets the eye. Was her departure motivated by substantial differences on matters of policy and the direction the country is taking? Time will tell.