Who will succeed Dambe?

| Friday June 4, 2010 00:00

 

Dambe leaves behind a very important position. Even before she could vacate names are being bandied around as possible replacement.

Phadi SolomonDambe's natural successor would be Phadi Solomon who has been the number two at DPP. Solomon, though a known legal grafter like Dambe, may not ascend to the DPP throne because she will soon reach the mandatory retirement age. Other than long service at the Attorney General's Chambers, Solomon has had a stint as president of the Land Tribunal.

Brigadier Makale AlidiHis name keeps cropping up whenever the DPP is mentioned. Alidi is the military legal expert and over the years the rumour mill has been clogged that the administration was setting up Alidi for a bigger national assignment.

He is said to be a good legal mind. His experience will have been largely limited to court martial and other closed military legal processes.

With the Khama administration seemingly comfortable with military professionals, Alidi is considered a strong candidate.

However, this week he broke the silence and dismissed the reports as baseless and misleading. He said he has never applied for the job, has never been approached by anybody to retire from the army to head the organisation and that he has no intentions of leaving the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in the near future. Alidi, who is Assistant Chief of Staff (Personell) and Director of Legal Services since 2008, said he was baffled by the reports especially that he was not interested in the position.

Phadza KgalemangFrancistown based lawyer, Phadza Kgalemang is mentioned as a candidate to this powerful position. Kgalemang has made a name for himself as an ace lawyer in Francistown. He counts Vice-President Mompati Merafhe as one of his clients. He has some trade unions as  clients.

Kgalemang was a police officer before he quit the Botswana Police Service to pursue his legal studies.

Wesson Manchwe and Kabo LeinaengThere are some who say the appointing authority might not want to rock the boat and appoint somebody from within. Although proponents of this view seem to be miniscule hence it appears the remotest obliquely the names of Wesson Manchwe and Kabo Leinaeng are mentioned.

Manchwe heads the DPP central division in Palapye and he is known as the Sherlock Holmes of the courtroom. Not much is known about Leinaeng other than that he is part of  the senior management at DPP.