Molao: Striking an opportunity in Cabinet trials
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday January 22, 2024 12:52
Explaining his situation in an interview with Mmegi last week Friday, the confident Molao is reaping positives from a trying situation that is considered to be a detriment.
A good number of Cabinet members failed re-election mainly because they could not strike a good balance between Cabinet duties and legislative functions. The list of those who fell by the way side as a result of this quandary is endless.
Molao’s middle name, Mmilili, seems to be having a direct bearing in his personality as a politician who is currently riding the crest and enjoying his political life with all its challenges and achievements.
Mmilili simply suggests positive connotations that the Minister was a born leader.
In Ikalanga, mmilili simply means the people’s representative. In the 2024 General Election, Molao will not be challenged for the primaries, a sign that the villagers are content with their Mmilili. His usual challenger, Daniel Onkabetse, has decided not to contest this time around. No one has stepped to the plate and thrown their name into the hat.
Charged with a massive responsibility of ensuring that Botswana produces her own food as the Minister of Agriculture, which he doubles with being the MP for a rural constituency that has been crying out for services, Molao’s huge task is to strike a balance between the two competing interests.
He is also so lucky to have started his political career from the backbench and ascended to a substantive Cabinet position having been an Assistant Minister also. Coincidentally, Molao has been an Assistant Minister at both the Ministry of Education and that of Agriculture and a full Minister at both ministries.
“I started off from the backbench (2010-2015) and I would then spend all my time in my constituency (Shashe-West) and was able to ask pertinent questions in Parliament serving the constituents diligently,” he reminisced. He would be able to attend funerals, weddings and other pressing social gatherings in the constituency with ease.
During the presidency of Ian Khama, Molao was an assistant minister for sometime and he didn’t sit in Cabinet most of the time, except on invitation. Like some of his colleagues, they would take advantage and arrange meetings across the country to address issues of national interest including at his own backyard; Shashe-West.
Now, Molao has massive experience in his 14th year as an MP. The only disadvantage that he is grappling with is that Cabinet members do not ask questions in Parliament something that some of his constituents believe has silenced him as MP.
“At Cabinet level, we instead hold our internal discussions behind closed doors dissecting issues of national interest,” he told Mmegi. He was, however, elated that Cabinet Ministers have an opportunity to appreciate development plans the more and that is being briefed thoroughly by officers and discussing ministerial plans broadly.
“We have the privilege of understanding the deeper details of issues like budget fully as we are fully briefed,” he explained.
Molao always tells his constituents that with the exposure that he has today, he is in a good position to advocate for their issues much better than when he was outside Cabinet.
He concedes that even as Cabinet members, they can argue and differ on approach of issues behind closed doors but at the end of the day they function as a collective to serve the government of the day.
Against opinion that areas served by Cabinet members suffer the most as the incumbent spends most of the time on national issues rather than his/her own constituency leaving such areas behind, Molao has his own story.
“Areas led by Cabinet members are better off because members of the Executive have the benefit of knowing the country’s development agenda better,” he insisted.
The Minister concedes that it’s not always easy for an area served by a Minister as he/she shares the constituency with the nation. Sometimes striking a balance is not possible at all with a visible gap in the constituency.
“As a Minister there is a challenge of accessing the people as they wish due to other pressing Cabinet challenges. I must consider myself to be so lucky to have had committed constituency administrative officers who have been able to interact with the people and close the gap of my non-availability,” Molao shared his story.
The officers are able to do all the requisite legwork in the constituency, which helps on service delivery. He has an officer who is adequately educated to understand the needs of the constituents with ease interaction. The major villages in the constituency include Mathangwane, Borolong, Shashemooke and Chadibe with many smaller villages around them.
He accedes that in Parliament, the voices of Executive members tend to drown because there is no way they could attack their own government or fellow MPs, instead, “we owe it to the people to explain things the way people want to hear them from an informed and honest position”. He maintains that advantage of being a Cabinet member is in terms of working hard for the priorities of the people.
Molao and his team of council candidates performed well in his first term proper at the national polls in 2014 when the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) swept the stakes winning all the council seats. The story would then change in the 2019 General Election when the opposition won three seats, sending a shockwave in the BDP camp. Actually, Molao had garnered 7,181 votes, Alfred Mashungwa representing the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) got 5,911votes, Gaorewe Keagile of the Alliance for Progressives (AP) was elected by 608 people whilst Blackie Ndwapi of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) trailed via 483 votes.
Despite the different political parties contesting for the elections in Shashe-West constituency, Molao consoles himself that at the end of the day, it happens that majority of the politicians share relations, but different parties.
“I have always had a cordial relationship with all the councillors in the area. In 2010 after he won a by-election that was occasioned by the death of former MP, Baledzi Gaolathe, he found that there were three opposition councillors. Two of them he had gone to school with and the third was a distant relative, so whilst they differ there is no animosity at all.
“Even in the 2019 General Election, there were three opposition councillors elected and our team and I work with them cordially as we always include them during constituency meetings even at the MP’s office,” he explained.
Molao further concedes that in 2019 he had a scare of his political life indicating that it was indeed a tough year with its own challenges. His constituents were worried about service delivery in many areas.
The elections were held at a time the constituents were concerned about lack of potable water which was a major campaign issue with the opposition parties as about 95% of the constituency was without water. This he believes is what had upset people.
Another hot potato was the Mandunyane - Mathangwane road, which was funded but was later cancelled due to the economic recession in 2009. It would later become a huge campaign issue, which favoured the opposition.
There was also the contentious Sebina-Marapong police station, which comes from the presidency of Festus Mogae. The MP inherited the unfinished project from his predecessor and the constituents could only blame the incumbent for his failures.
“There is a turnaround in water provision with only three villages left to be completed in the fullness of time. The Mandunyane-Mathangwane road will soon commence,” explained Molao. He also highlighted that the accident-prone A3 road, which has been an issue after 2019 General Election, has also been provided for as it has been allocated funding.
He emphasised that in 2019 campaigns, the opposition had a field day with issues very close to the people’s hearts and they seemed to have scored crucial points. He is further elated that the government of the BDP has been able to attend to several pressing needs in his constituency.
It’s not surprising that Molao is without a challenge in the current season of Bulela Ditswe, which he attributes to his party attending to the needs of the people.
“All the recognised villages in the constituency now have health centres, are connected to the national electricity grid and other amenities are now reaching the people. The story doesn’t end there, we will continue serving the people diligently,” he promised, emphasising that these are social impact projects that complete the needs of the people. All the villages in Shashe-West have modern offices and proper shelters to conduct their services.