Masisi’s Cabinet headache
Dolly Byrone Thebe | Monday September 6, 2021 06:00
For the ruling party, it must have given President Mokgweetsi Masisi a bit of a headache to form a new Cabinet out of a stock of freshers, predominantly young and with little or no political experience. Perhaps it came as no surprise that even when it comes to very sensitive and senior ministries such as Presidential affairs, governance and public administration, the President had to name a fresher in the name in Kabo Morwaeng to be in charge of affairs. This is a very taxing and powerful ministry which can make or break a government.
It requires one to be grounded in public service matters among other things. Traditionally, this ministry is regarded as the hub of government and has been the preserve of old warhorses. Veteran ministers who had had a stint in the ministry include Eric Molale, who came with an illustrious service in the public service having been permanent secretary to the president and a district commissioner during the course of his career. Yes, Morwaeng had been in politics for a very long time having tried many times to go to Parliament but without success.
While in the political wilderness, outside Parliament, Morwaeng honed his entrepreneurial skills, which saw him spending some time in insurance companies. So, he came into this influential position as a politician-cum-businessman fully conscious of the bumpy and difficult political terrain ahead while also seemly equipped with negotiation and marketing skills earned during his life in the private sector.
Some of the achievements he scored in this new post were the thawing of relations between the government and trade unions. Since taking over the ministry, to his credit the spirit of rapport between government and trade unions seems to be reigning supreme as opposed to their old cat-and -mouse existence. Under him, trade unions are quieter and less robust and this could be attributed to the warm reception he has extended to them. It is really too early to judge how far he will go in terms of maintenance of this spirit of rapprochement because the dynamics keep changing. And with all the attention being shifted to COVID-19, coupled with the prevalence of Public State of Emergency (SOE), which has put on hold union activities, it is fair to say Morwaeng 's strengths have not fully been put to test as SOE has spared him from a possible showdown with unions. The one thing also worthy of mention is that recently government bowed to pressure mounted by teacher trade unions to prioritise vaccination of teachers.
COVID-19 continues to claim many casualties and the teaching profession has lost far too many lives. It was against this background that unions took a tougher stance under the slogan, ‘No Vaccination No Classes’. And government had no choice but yielded. How far Morwaeng as the minister responsible for the public service was involved in reaching some sort of compromise and breaking the impasse remains unclear. So far, he stared on a high and positive note in so far as public service issues are concerned.
Even though he is yet to ensure that the Public Service Bargaining Council is back on its feet, he has right on day one managed to navigate the issue of management and negotiations of public service salary increases. Even though due to COVID-19, government has failed to honour its obligations this year, Morwaeng could be credited for diluting and taming the influence of trade unions.
It is on the political front that Morwaeng appears to have not found his footing. His political inexperience is really showing and the Office of the President (OP) under his care continues to make schoolboy errors. The war effort against COVID-19 is being managed from the OP under his care and there has been a costly delay in procurement of vaccines to save the nation from COVID-19. The health system is now in disarray. There are question marks regarding the management of the COVID-19 funds. Many feel that government failed to come up with a rock solid plan to deal with prevention and containment of the spread of the pandemic. No efforts have been made to acquire additional facilities to address the effects of the pandemic.
Right now, both government and private hospitals are turning away patients and this has contributed to some unbearable rise in mortality rates. Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital now looks like a hospital death bed due to capacity constraints and the fact that many patients seem to arrive too late at the facility when the damage is already done. Morwaeng’s ministry has failed Batswana and really he must account for what happened to the COVID-19 relief funds. Clearly Batswana did not get value for money.
Under his superintendence, the OP continues to embark on what appears to be a reckless and expensive adventures .The decision to build a presidential resort in the northwest tourism hub appears to defy all logic. Government is hard-pressed on the economic front and where on earth does it have a budgetary provision to venture into an ambitious luxurious hotel construction for purposes of entertaining the President's guests when people are dying everyday from COVID-19 complications? It does seem government priorities are really upside down and Morwaeng has some serious explaining to do. As if this is not enough, reports that government has secured and bought Tautona Lodge from one of its former ministers raise eyebrows. On the one hand government has no money to buy COVID-19 test kits but it has money on the other hand to venture into what appears to be unnecessary money wasting projects. The conduct of OP under Morwaeng 's care is suspect.
Literally, government seems to be reversing its policy of facilitating the private sector to become the engine of the economy. Now in government, the private sector has a strong competitor and not a facilitator. Government can now be accused of smothering and slowing down the growth of the private sector. As the face of the presidency in Parliament, Morwaeng is performing below par and his answers are far from satisfactory. He appears a little arrogant and is not prepared to yield even when opposition camp is presenting solid and valid points. His answers on the acquisition of an 8km by 21km chunk of land in the Okavango turned him into a laughing stock.
It seems he is ill-prepared to navigate the political terrain in Parliament and this places his party at the risk of losing the next election. He does not seem to be giving the President any alternative views as he seems to be too content with pleasing his master and doing as instructed. Maybe one cannot fault him as a person because the culture of bootlicking in the BDP government is well entrenched.
Job preservation is what our ministers care about rather than what is good for Botswana. President Masisi and Morwaeng cannot be a good combination for Botswana. He is soft and the President has a domineering character. For the President to function effectively and in the interests of the nation, somebody with a restraining influence must be found to dilute the influence of the President. If men and women with nerves of steel do not man the OP, Masisi might go down in history as a President who presided over the dissolution and demise of once promising Africa's democracy.
The president should have been advised that acquisition of luxurious buildings does not promote research. Buildings do not do research. Research is enhanced by a culture of research unfortunately our education system has failed to nurture and develop the research culture. Otherwise, the Tautona Lodge just like other government acquisitions may remain a white elephant not serving the purpose for which it is intended. Otherwise, the P60m should have gone directly into building research capacity in the universities.