“Man to man is so unjust, you don’t know who to trust. “Some will hate you, pretend they love you, then behind, they try to eliminate you”.

You may be wondering as to why I am making reference to Bob Marley’s song?

In an apparent last minute bid to save the Kazungula Bridge, last week President Mokgweetsi Masisi flew to Lusaka to hold meetings with his Zambian counterpart.

The contractor had been complaining that clients – Botswana Government and Zambian Government had not paid and as such had instructed workers not to come to work.

Our people like to sensationalise and they like to consume bite-size pieces of information. They rarely engage in extensive reading. Because of this, they are therefore susceptible to deception. Some like hear-says “magatwe” Ga tweng?

Retaining the face of Ian Khama on the P10 bill notes is no longer possible to justify.

Bank of Botswana has to make a choice; to delve full throttle into politics or to keep their independence.

They cannot have both.

At the moment the Central Bank is dabbling in politics.

And for that they will pay a heavy price – they will lose their independence.

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) introduced him into politics allegedly against his will; they parachuted him to the state presidency without having to sweat it out with others; they forced him down our throats without much resistance mainly because of royalty; they supported and defended him religiously; they give him the aura of a distinctively unmatched president and for 20 years Ian Kham

It’s Kang or nothing, we are being told.

The question though is what’s next after Kang?

Kang, a tiny, dusty and sleepy village in the southern tip of the Kgalagadi has become synonymous to an albatross hanging around the neck of a nation.

In the overall scheme of things, except for its overly proud people, Kang as a place really has no claim to fame.

The Voice newspaper of the 25th January 2019 carried an interview with former President Ian Khama in which he told its correspondent, one Sharon Mathala,  that politics was never his chosen career path, that he had chosen another life for himself after the BDF and that he had personally sacrificed a lot to rule this country.

By Shirley Segokgo

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Mokgweetsi (Driver), Eric (Ruler), Keabetswe(it is given to me), Masisi (Meticulous, Circumspect).

Of the greatness his government and peace there will be no end.

The law is an ass, so wrote Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist.

But then so too is democracy, he should have added.

One of the main reasons why Botswana’s democracy has successfully endured has to do with the fact while allowing for multiple political parties, and a dejure independent parliament, in effect there has been only one centre of power – the presidency.