Khama- Masisi; from autocracy to kleptocracy
Describing transition of power from Ian Khama to President Mokgweetsi Masisi as turbulent, is an understatement. It has been seismic, to say the least. We are lucky that in this country we do not have weapons lying around, we could be talking ‘ French.’ The two are in a ‘ war’ of attrition that has pushed Botswana to the brink. Khama, with full support of South African government, has escalated his ‘ war’ against Masisi and Botswana to international heights. His ardent desire to burn down the entire house to kill a rat, throws even the discipline of psychiatry into panic. But he seems religiously committed to take his fight to its logical or illogical conclusion. This lunacy, perhaps, is somehow understandable, remember, Khama used to rule the country, and seas would rise when he gave the word. His word was not even equal to that of God, it was way more than that. His autocracy was rivalling that of the ‘ Führer,’ Adolf Hitler. In 2019, Batswana parried a well- financed political ploy against Masisi and threw him a political life- line. Had it not been for Batswana, we could be now talking a totally different story. Perhaps even with Masisi lingering in jail. Despite the adversities of the time, Masisi’s message carried hope for the many in this country. Masisi stood as a beacon of hope. But barely months into the job, Masisi quickly metamorphosed into a different animal. It seems the big broom he was to sweep out corruption has gone missing. It is even safe to conclude that, there was never a broom in the first place. With his chief spy, Brigadier Peter Magosi by his side, we have just transited from the frying pan into the fire.
The resultant has been a political and homeland security environment that even calls into question Masisi’s authority. Instead of him articulating pragmatic socio- economic and political programmes aimed at uplifting Batswana from the jaws of abject poverty, Masisi has expended his energy on Khama. Surely, Masisi is leading from the past. He has allowed his past to dictate his future. The one distinctive and perhaps disturbing feature of the current administration, is its kleptocratic tendencies. We have the rise in cronyism and political gatekeeping that has seen both politicians and securocrats becoming mega- rich overnight.
Atypical of our culture and values, but no matter how bitter this pill is, let us swallow our pride and realise that we are now dealing with a different species of Homo sapiens. For them, the pursuit of wealth and power typically goes hand in hand. Access to one often helps consolidate a more secure grip on the other. The unrestrained and unchecked accumulation of these two forces, however, can create a sinister knot that can become increasingly difficult to untangle. In such a system, political leaders come to depend on the accumulation of vast wealth to fund patronage networks and benefit the loyalists who keep them in power.
For the kleptocrat, the stakes of losing access to either wealth or power can become terrifyingly high. Losing power not only means losing access to wealth, but also increases the likelihood of facing severe retribution, including possible imprisonment, or worse.
Grand corruption of the nature that leads to kleptocracy is generally accomplished through state capture, whereby political elites put family members, political allies, or opaque business entities they control in charge of state- owned companies, procurement decisions, and other state resources. It can take many different forms, and even filter into the judicial systems to rig courts and appoint judges in their favour, but the corrosive effects on government performance and accountability are the same. President Masisi has not only disappointed us, but has fooled us. Masisi should take a leaf from Bob Marley’s words, “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”