Trump is a copycat of SKI
Bame Piet | Tuesday March 14, 2017 16:00
Who said Americans can’t copy or cannot learn from Africans? They were wrong. US President Donald Trump is a true example of how some Americans envy us Africans, and he is a copycat of our very own Lieutenant General Dr Ian Khama.
When he was inaugurated almost nine years ago, President Khama enjoyed popularity that none of his predecessors ever enjoyed. There was a lot of hope that he will provide leadership and help fight some of the social ills. Of course there were angry souls within his party who did not want him in the country’s or BDP’s highest office.
However, Khama’s era became a one-man journey to this day, since he took office. Unilateral decisions, some in contravention of the law, others so controversial that it was impossible to digest their intended purpose, have become part of our life.
They do not represent the wishes of their parties
Trump’s campaign was characterised by divisions within the Republicans, the division which went on until his inauguration and even to this day. Figures like John McCain have distanced themselves from Trump and his decisions leaving a heavily divided party.
President Khama led a very polarised Botswana Democratic Party, which split for the first time in 2010 leading to the formation of Botswana Movement for Democracy. The BDP is still struggling to find peace despite many initiatives that were brought on board to reconcile it. President Khama does not attend Parliament proceedings because he hates debate, and believes that it is better he meets the people face to face and therefore the street walks, and others. He has visited people in their homes and chatted with them. While in America there are no Kgotla meetings similar to our setup here, Trump believes he should meet his “voters” face to face and boasting about how he won the election with an unprecedented margin.
They believe they love their countries more than other citizens
President Khama used to speak and behave like a person who thought that he was the only person who loved this country than everybody else, emphasising patriotism than any other word in vocabulary. This was too much to a point that even former President Sir Ketumile Masire said in one interview with one newspaper that no individual should think that they love this country more than everybody else.
Trump, thousands of miles away, behaves like he discovered United States of America and the only person who loves the country. He is fighting tooth and nail to ban citizens from six Muslim countries despite the country’s highest court ruling that the move is unconstitutional, and protests that hit the country as a result of the ban. His argument is that he does not want any attacks on US citizens by Islamic terror groups.
They do not believe in set rules or establishment
Khama got to his office and did not take the position of Chancellor of University of Botswana as was the norm with his predecessors. Khama came up with projects that were neither budgeted for nor listed in any of the National Development Plans, such as constituency football league, Ipelegeng, internship programme and others. He also has never called a press conference to deliberate on his plans, policies and decisions, unlike his predecessors.
He does not attend Parliament like his predecessors.
Trump came up with his own rules and has stirred controversy in the first month of his presidency. Commentators have questioned his lack of understanding of the laid down rules or practices and have already declared him as Anti-establishment. So far, Trump is going to go against an established rule for the US President to be a Guest of Honor at Annual Washington Correspondents Dinner next month. He will not be attending.
They say anything
The two leaders are very brave to say or do anything that they believe is in the best interest of their people even though there is overwhelming resistance from majority and experts.
During his campaign Trump promised to build a wall to prevent Mexicans from entering the US. He has now kickstarted the project. When he got to office, President found a very stubborn leader in the north in Zimbabwe and shared his true feelings about him. Zimbabwe was in a crisis and SADC leaders, including then South African President Thabo Mbeki were silent as thousands were butchered in their back yard. SKI spoke against the State sponsored violence in Zimbabwe, opened doors for Zimbabwean refugees and assured them that the region will deal with the problem back home.
The government of Botswana then derecognized Mugabe after the 2008 presidential elections that were marred with violence against opposition MDC supporters. Then MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai refused to take part in the presidential re-run and the government of national unity was born early 2009. Trump is shaking the world and he has warned that countries that want American protection should cough up money and pay their contributions. The announcement has sent shockwaves to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
They hate the media with a passion
President Ian Khama’s hatred for the private media is there for everyone to see. He prefers to use State media for all his announcements.
This is because there are no questions that will be posed at him. Because there is no state media in the US, Trump on the other hand prefers social media because there are no questions he should field. At some point he stated that he does not read local newspapers and journalists from private press were barred from attending his official meetings with other government organs and departments.
The two leaders believe that the media is out to get them. President Khama used to capitalise on every moment he had with BDP supporters or kgotla meetings to demonise the media. Trump calls CNN fake news, New York Times as failing, and the Washington Post as unprofessional. He says journalists have become part of the corrupt system. Last week some journalists from the two main newspapers were barred from attending White House Press briefing.
On the other hand, despite their hatred for the media, the two leaders quote the same media when it reports positively about them.
It is either the two leaders are descendants of same great-great grandparents or Trump is a fanatic of SKI. Another probability is that Trump has been following events in Botswana, watching how SKI managed to swim against the tide for close to a decade churning one surprise after another.
However, Trump is yet to hit the 100 days in office and he may be bringing with him a bag of surprises, whilst in Botswana, nine years later SKI’s bag of surprises is still churning a lot of stuff. The man has energy.
The two leaders share more in common than just a similar hairstyle. Trump should stop copying from our SKI, otherwise he will fail his exam in the next four years. Horrible.