Drama as rivalry plays itself out in Parliament

It started off as a normal session and you would not have expected sparks to fly around in the August House. The honourable men and women of the House trooped in and took their seats and thereafter got down to serious business, which included the answering of questions posed by MPs to ministers. The questions were briskly dealt with and then the peace and calm dissipated as Speaker, Margaret Nasha called over the Leader of Opposition, Botswana National Front (BNF) vice-president Olebile Gaborone to the floor to respond to President Ian Khama's State of the Nation address.

Just a few minutes into reading his speech, the South East North legislator was forced to pause, as his former party comrade Nehemiah Modubule interjected, and addressing himself to the Speaker, asked indignantly: "I don't know where you derive powers to call the Leader of Opposition to be the first to respond to the State of the Nation address?" he said.