President Ian Khama, whose ascendancy to the highest political office was not based on a proven track record of political leadership, but was rather propelled by the public hope that his leadership would emulate that of his late father who was the founding president of the republic, has failed to provide strategic political leadership. He has introduced “Red Cross Politics” that focus on distributing blankets and soup. Acts of charity are always commendable but should never be the focus of the Presidency. If Ian Khama had succeeded his late mother as the head of the Red Cross, there is no doubt that he would have performed exceptionally well in the role, save for the tendency to parade poor people on national television which is devoid of dignity and is discouraged by the bible (Matthew 6 verse 1 to 4). As head of state he is simply misplaced and has given credence to the Setswana saying, “E e mashi ga e itsale.” In addition to the unending crisis that is engulfing the entire nation, President Khama has made a number of promises to Batswana through the state of the nation addresses which he has not followed through. We highlighted such false promises when we evaluated his 5 years in office and I wish to repeat some of them here; • In 2008 he promised to introduce a contributory insurance scheme for the agricultural sector to make it easy for farmers to access loans. He has failed to put such a scheme in place. • Still in 2008 he promised to introduce a new instalment purchase scheme to be administered by BHC to provide affordable housing to BHC. The scheme has not been put in place and the minister of Housing recently informed Parliament that this will not be done within NDP 10. • He also promised in 2008 that government will pay allowances to players of the Premier League as well as First Division North and South. The players are still waiting for the first allowance payment after 5 years • In 2009 he announced that he has instructed the Minister of Lands and Housing to come up with solutions for the housing of public officers. The housing of public officers remains an unresolved problem. • Also in 2009 he announced a new housing scheme that will include high density and multi-residential houses for the youth and the first time home owners. Not a single housing complex of this nature has been built. • In 2010 he announced that the privatization of BTC and selling of shares to citizens will be completed by April 2011. BTC still remains wholly owned by government to this day The Khama leadership has failed and cannot be trusted with its own promises
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 00:29:01 +0000
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