The Khama regret

| Thursday November 7, 2013 16:09

Mogae’s intellect and open-mindedness was ever clear. Like a long lost lover Mogae made us miss the good old days. He reminded us what we got wrong and how wrong he got it by appointing his deputy, President Ian Khama, to the highest office. His opinions and his ability to answer questions put into sharp relief the type of hostile presidency we are now saddled with.

Mogae cannot be exonerated of this mess of course and hopefully there will come a day when he acknowledges this.

He cannot take a different position on major issues and still with clear conscience maintain that his decision on Khama was right.

Mogae takes a different position on gays and sex workers now. He says in retrospect he realises he was wrong to maintain a criminilising philosophy on both sectors.

Some have condemned him for that, but we think it’s a mark of leadership to look back and change position and acknowledge where one was wrong. Mogae says he takes into account fresh knowledge that he garnered.

In a way Mogae’s approach is extremely pragmatic and of a higher intellectual plane. He condemns the new position to outlaw sex work and victimise foreign citizens engaged in sex work. He is against the victimisation of gay people as well. The point is that he makes a clear argument as to why he has a different point of view.

Contrasting that with the current leadership where every decision made is from a purely moralistic and indeed very simplistic conceptualisation of the world. What other explanation can one give for the sudden banning of sex workers when every other research points to the opposite direction?

Khama has a more complex society to deal with but as ever his decisions seem more simplistic. The presidency’s propensity to take decisions against ministries on matters in which it has little expertise and rejects any input from available expertise means we are flying in the dark. Health experts have advised on the way to address the issue of HIV/AIDS on specific groups such as sex workers, gays and those who use drugs. The Office of the President decided to force the hand of the Ministry of Health to move in the opposite direction.

Furthermore we have a government that increasingly views its nation through the narrow viewfinder of pro and against Khama. Where a minister can simply proclaim that his claim to fame is his blind dedication to Khama.

We therefore hope that Batswana while listening to Mogae yesterday, learned not to ever commit such a mistake again. The future of this country should never be entrusted with a few interests within the narrow circle at the heart of the ruling party as it happened with Mogae’s handing over to Khama. It is too important an issue. We can only learn from the past, as Mogae himself says he does. 

                                                    Today’s thought

“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

 

                                                    - Alan Moore