Anatomy of a dictator

Michael Dingake | Tuesday November 29, 2016 16:40

The allegation has been disputed and angrily condemned by lieutenants of the Lieutenant General. Slow of speech, I was constrained to jump into the debate lest I encroached on regular callers’ reserved time to have their usual intervention in this very important subject. I now use this space to have my say on the matter.

Some dictators are born, some are imposed on the people by the people themselves and some have dictatorship imposed on them by professional training, and some have the combined causalities of dictatorship thrust upon them.

Batswana traditional political system had a mixture of the democratic and the dictatorial elements. Hence, the two contradictory Setswana idiomatic expressions, ‘mahoko a kgotla a mantle otlhe.’ (implying tolerance and freedom of speech) and ‘lehoko la kgosi le agelwa mosako (kgosi’s word is sacrosanct).

Though people could have their say in kgotla, what the kgosi had to say was incontestable; it was the final word and the law in the kgotla pow-wow.

The system served as a breeding ground for forms of dictatorial rule, in particular where the kgosi found himself overwhelmed by contrary tribal opinion. In cases where the kgosi was out-debated, he could take the liberty of making a controversial decision, knowing his word was sacrosanct.

Military leadership is based on absolute obedience. An army commander knows he has unquestioned loyalty from the army; his word is law disobeyed at risk of court-martial. It’s axiomatic, anyone brought up in a royal house and incidentally trained in army leadership, ceteris paribus, will find democracy un-tenable in his/her agenda. True exceptions are possible; but exceptions would be distinctly exceptional where power and selfishness predominate like we find in human society.

We trace our President’s steps on the democratic trail. Dragged, kicking and protesting into unfamiliar democratic terrain, the President-to-be did the following: Before he started work, he applied for sabbatical leave, an unknown element in Parliament/Cabinet arena; frustrated by prevailing tradition, he awaited appointment into the Ministry of Presidential Affairs; unsatisfied with apparent portfolio parity in Cabinet, he demanded premiership, un-provided by the constitution. President Mogae compromised by elevating his Ministry to supervisory duties of other Ministries: Duties were to oversee the rest of ministries and ensure implementation of projects, which to date has failed. His itch for power however was theoretically assuaged.

Forgetful he was no longer in the BDF, he continued to fly the BDF copters; challenged, the incumbent President broke the law, claiming his VP was a good pilot entitled to fly the copters. The BDF law stays broken for Vice Presidents under him to continue to fly the BDF copters. In Parliament, as Minister of Presidential Affairs, he inherited an anti-corruption draft bill: Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Bill. At his first Parliamentary Caucus meeting, he asked for deferment to enable him to acquaint himself with the bill. He’s still studying the bill while corruption runs amok; Parliament had a radio programme popular with Batswana listeners Dikgang tsa Palamente, he terminated it without consulting his MP colleagues. I should know, I confronted him about his unilateralism.

Parliament, is by law independent and equal with other arms of government, the Executive and the Judiciary. We remember how H.E. tried to manipulate procedures to have a Speaker of his heart. Failing in court, he smuggled her in through his cowed ruling party MPs.

In his party, he accomplished what his predecessors had failed to do. He split the BDP by trying to oust party officers elected by party congress to impose his puppets. The Judiciary is currently a sight of an institution tottering on wobbly legs. He appoints judges approved by himself alone, not recommended by the JSC as by law designed; he disciplines judges contrary to the principle of checks and balances. Some judges timorously pledge loyalty to him; the JSC is a shell of its former self under past presidents.

Lest we forget, this is the man who declared he doesn’t read newspapers. A President who doesn’t read newspapers yet holds a tight control over the state media, cannot be anything but a dictator who thinks he alone is right and all others are wrong!

Rule by fear and populist stance is dictators’ common denominator. Josef Stalin, Herr Hitler, Idi Amin were feared more and less admired! Dictators instill fear in the ruled by surrounding themselves with sycophants, cronies and spies; populism is also another dictators’ trick; Herr Hitler‘s xenophobia was unleashed against Jews and non-Aryan races; industrialist Krupp was instructed to design and produce the Volkswagen (people’s car) affordable to German workers. A master stroke! Josef Stalin ruled through a network of petty spies whose job was to backbite his colleagues for petty rewards; Amin endeared himself to Ugandans by making the unpopular white colonialists carry him on a hammock in public. Our president’s popularity stances are many and need no enumeration. Have you ever wondered why transparent MmaMotsumi, Minister in the Office of the President, was posted to the land of Monsoons, why Mma Nasha the darling Speaker and advocate of an independent Parliament, is a refugee in the UDC camp, why Daniel ‘DK’ Kwelagobe, the doyen star in the monolithic BDP history, was missing in the BOT50 Honours' List? The anatomy of dictator is the answer. Opponents and critics of dictatorships are eliminated, exiled, humiliated or marginalised!