New BDP no work experience
Bame Piet | Friday May 2, 2014 12:28
Former Vice President Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, used to warn that “go busa ga se diketo’ every time he held the floor in the National Assembly to dismiss the remarks raised by opposition members. The Opposition backbench attracted the General’s wrath especially when they dismissed the former President Festus Mogae’s State of the Nation Address or the late minister of Finance and Development Planning Baledzi Gaolathe’s budget speech. Those years, around 2006 and 2008, Merafhe was Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Leader of the House.
Then, the current Vice President Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe was resting somewhere in the back bench, and wrath then continued to the latter years when Khama ascended to the presidency making Merafhe his Vice President. At this time and in the twilight of his career, Merafhe never used to hide his feelings about opposition MPs telling them of their ‘childish’ behaviour, and ‘naivety’. He would tell them that they had no experience whatsoever in governance.
At some point he used the language that the then Speaker of Parliament, Patrick Balopi called un-parliamentary, but Merafhe would respond that the language was ‘slang’.
A few years later after Balopi’s retirement, on Monday December 6, 2010, when responding to the State of the Nation Address he trashed the responses by opposition MPs, specifically focusing on then Leader of Opposition Botsalo Ntuane accusing the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) of betraying voters. Merafhe then turned to Dumelang Saleshando and his Botswana Congress Party (BCP) accusing them of disrespecting DIS Boss Isaac Kgosi.
“Ke utlwa gotwe ko (I hear that at) BCP, when they were addressing a meeting somewhere, they were calling this particular officer bare ke (saying he is) BDP puppy, ntsanyana ya Domkraga. Hey, Let me tell you that within BCP here, there are so many BDP puppies, I’m telling you. If you do not plead with me I will reveal their names,” said a charged up Merafhe.
Whether or not he was politicking is an argument for another day.
Last July, Merafhe was assigned to observe the elections in Zimbabwe and in his report, he called the electoral process all sorts of names, spicing them as “a circus of the biggest magnitude”. A few days later, the Botswana Government disowned his statement. Now he can attest to the fact that once out of power, you are out.
The former VP served four decades in the public service from Police Mobile Unit, Botswana Defence Force, and brilliantly as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and then had a short stint as VP from April 2008 to June 2012.
Vice President Kedikilwe, is also on his way out, after more or less four decades in the public service having worked as a permanent secretary, then minister for presidential affairs and public administration, minerals energy and water resources, education and others.
Who would forget Dr Margaret Nasha, the Speaker of the National Assembly who has also served under many ministerial portfolios until she was beaten by Dumelang Saleshando, later returning as specially elected MP. She did exceptionally well.
After serving as Speaker, chances of her returning to any ministerial position are slim or non-existent. She might be contemplating retirement, but her departure from politics is somehow a setback for Batswana.
The BDP’s best are among those who have lost the primary elections, and may not, unless specially nominated, make it back to the November Parliament.
Phandu Skelemani is one. Having served as Attorney General, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration and later Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Skelemani has, since assuming the reigns six years ago, attended all international meetings on behalf of Batswana, with the President ever missing. Therefore, Skelemani’s experience would be vital if this country is to have recognition and influence.
The three currently on everyone’s lips - Moeng Pheto, Frank Ramsden and Pono Moatlhodi are out of the BDP, and possibly may not make it back to Parliament.
Peter Siele was one very public-friendly minister at Labour and Home Affairs until July 2011 when he unilaterally amended the Public Service Act to categorise a certain class of workers as essential services. He was later transferred to Local Government and Rural Development. Now that he has lost the primaries, he has little or no chance of making it back.
The minister of Defence, Justice and Security Ramadeluka Seretse also fell victim to an indictment on the Khama administration when the people of Serowe North rejected him for the third time in 2013.
Seretse served under Mogae as minister of lands, an assignment he executed fairly well though he did not speed up the process of land allocation. The corruption charges, of which he was later discharged and acquitted, somehow had a negative bearing on his image.
Four more members of Khama’s Cabinet – Dr John Seakgosing, Lebonamang Mokalake, Oreeditse Molebatsi, Gloria Somolekae – lost the primaries, and therefore assumed to be on their way out. Finance Minister, Kenneth Mathambo did not contest the primaries.
So, the BDP has very little to boast about when speaking about experience in governance, for the fact that when there is change of government, the civil service remains in office except for one or two casualties. These can be the head of the civil service, head of the military, head of intelligence, and head of police. No new government will take the risk of taking on board the aforementioned senior officers.
One may argue that BDP possesses institutional experience, and therefore would still be at an advantage. That may not count in this instance where the party has two centres of power, with the President placed far above the party law and the constitution of the country. He is the boss!
In her book, Nasha reveals that at a BDP congress held at Boipuso Hall in Gaborone, some party members suggested the President have powers to expel any person from the party without due process prescribed in the party Constitution. Nasha states that the party membership shouted ‘Tsholetsa’ as amendments were read out. “To our complete horror and disbelief, the hall resounded ‘Tsholetsa’ in approval of a clause that we knew was completely unconstitutional.”
She says as chairperson of the political education and elections committee, she called the congress to order and told the hall that they could not give the President of the party the powers to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury at the same time. “I deliberately emphasised the point that there were some amongst us, who were quite capable of concocting lies about other members and clandestinely making false representations to the President, with the aim of getting him to use this clause to expel such alleged wrongdoers from the party.”
The question that crops up is whether Members of Parliament can control their President when they harbour ambitions of one day being Cabinet ministers. Or even worse, those in Cabinet may want to prolong their stay therein, and hence they ought to keep quite to protect their ‘jobs’.
It is time the BDP introspects and admit that they have lost experienced people, and are now at the same league as their opposition counterparts. It is a given that Saleshando will make a better minister than someone who has been a councillor under the BDP somewhere in Mmashoro.
Looking at the number of years he was in Parliament, how he articulates his arguments in the House, Isaac Mabiletsa would also make a good minister. The same can be argued about Abram Kesupile, Nehemiah Modubule, who can make better ministers than a BDP candidate who just emerged from nowhere by winning primary elections.
In addition, nothing special distinguishes the three presidential candidates in Ian Khama, Duma Boko, and Dumelang Saleshando. Saleshando is an experienced politician and leader, Boko is an experienced lawyer and Khama is an experienced military man.
So the argument that opposition parties have never been in power, and therefore inexperienced in governance does not hold water anymore. The experienced little that are remaining in the BDP have also proven to be having a difficult time. President Khama is no exception. His pronouncement of policies, some of which have been written off as lies, his track record, and the first ever BDP split under his leadership are some of the challenges he faces.
Some technocrats, and ministers have spoken in whispers of how they hate being associated with the Khama administration, the short-term projects that exacerbate poverty, and the lack of consultation in their party.
The excuse that opposition have never been in power cannot be used even in political rallies for the simple reason that the new BDP will be on the same level as opposition parties.
But the BDP can still argue that its initiatives such as Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) have improved livelihoods after government injected over P5 billion into citizen companies to procure goods and services, since its inception three years ago. Whether that can outweigh the frustration of civil servants and their immediate families remains to be seen. Perhaps the P5 billion can’t especially after recent remarks made by Pheto when he stated that the party was sold to ‘tenderpreneurs’ during its Maun Congress last July. But with a fragmented opposition, the BDP might still win again, but likely to drive the country further into a mess where the leadership is not accountable to anyone.
One may argue that the BDP still has hope in Kitso Mokaila, although too playful and currently under serious public scrutiny for failing to deliver the crucial Morupule B Power Station. Then the oldest serving from Gantsi South, Johnny Swartz , who was first elected in 1984. For decades he served as minister of agriculture. He now oversees project implementation at Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology. His calm approach to issues may be mistaken for inefficiency.
There are also newcomers in Shaw Kgathi, Mokgweetsi Masisi, Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri, Botsalo Ntuane, Odirile Motlhale the latter two who were denied ministerial posts. They also have experience of life, however short, in opposition politics. It would not be wrong to suspect that Ntuane and Motlhale were denied the cabinet posts for the mere reason that they were regarded as young, and that there was fear the two could prove themselves capable of leadership. Their promotions to the cabinet would likely present a challenge, or contaminate a succession plan elsewhere. These are the potential ministers if they make it past October 2014. Just like the BDP, opposition parties have members who have worked in the civil service for decades and are capable of running the country in a different capacity as political leaders. They too can make ministers like Skelemani, Edwin Batshu, Seretse, Kenneth Matambo, Christian de Graaf, Nonofo Molefhi and others.