Khama a man of action
2009-10-06 12:08
Gaborone - There's a story supporters of Botswana's President Ian Khama tell, which, while maybe embellished a little, gives a flavour of his leadership style.
The story goes that Khama arrived unannounced one day in a rural hospital on one of his regular spot check-ups on service delivery.
Seeing a patient lying on the floor he is said to have marched on the matron's office to demand an explanation. Lo and behold, the matron is caught napping on the job but Khama instead of waking her, stands there waiting for her to wake up and face the music.
Ian Khama is nothing if not a man of action.
Since becoming president without a contest last year when former president Festus Mogae retired, the former vice-president has reshuffled his cabinet several times, created a new spy agency, issued a string of presidential directives and locked horns with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
A military man to his core, Lieutenant General Ian Khama, as his title appears carved in wood on his desk, makes no bones about his disciplinarian approach with underperforming officials and party dissenters.
Meetings with rural communities
"There has to be order," he said in an interview.
To his supporters, he is "Ian", son of the country's iconic first president Seretse Khama and his white British wife, Ruth Williams, making him sub-Saharan Africa's only half-white African leader.
This group, which comprises most ordinary Botswana, commends his attempts to root out inefficiency and praises his regular kgotlas - the consultative meetings he holds with rural communities.
Their only real gripe is with the decision by a teetotaller to slap a 30% levy on alcohol last year.
Internationally, too, Khama is held in high esteem for daring to break ranks last year with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) over Zimbabwe.
When the Zanu-PF party of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe attempted to overturn an election defeat through a campaign of violence targeting opposition supporters, Khama spoke out and boycotted a SADC summit in protest over Mugabe's presence.
Model of good governance
He also opposed - and continues to oppose - the power-sharing governments put in place in both Kenya and Zimbabwe to end election violence, and argues that such agreements perpetuate the rule of questionable ruling parties.
Diamond-rich Botswana, by contrast, is hailed as model of good governance, respect for the rule of law and judicious use of natural resources.
Every election since independence from Britain in 1966 has been free and peaceful, with Khama's Botswana Democratic Party comfortably re-elected each time.
The BDP looks set to clinch another easy victory in general elections on October 16, even though the polls take place amid difficult conditions as the diamond sector struggles to recover from a battering during the global recession.
A decisive win for the BDP might help ease the infighting that has beset the party since Khama's candidates were all defeated in a vote for the party top jobs in July.
Untrammelled powers
Since then, Khama has sidelined the party executive and sparked a court challenge from within his own party to his powers.
However, the country's top court ruled in the president's favour, saying the constitution gives him full immunity.
Khama says he himself is "uncomfortable" with the idea of untrammelled powers.
"You may find that the impression is given that the president can almost do anything and doesn't answer for it," he said, but added: "I didn't make the constitution."
Duality appears to characterise Khama. Although a self-proclaimed man of the people, he is more comfortable in English than the local Tswana language.
An ardent defender of democracy on the continent, he appears fond of presidential directives, sometimes at the expense of parliament, in his own country.
Strict disciplinarian
And while lamenting violence abroad, he has been less than vocal about a spike in extrajudicial killings by security force members at home over the past year.
In his personal life, Khama also admits to being quite the strict disciplinarian.
"I'm not a person who socialises a lot. I don't go to parties and that type of thing. I have a fairly rigorous regime the way I run my life. I put a lot of emphasis on physical fitness," he said.
To unwind, he said he likes to go bushwhacking and fly micro lights.
A bachelor at 56, he is under mounting pressure to marry in a society where traditional values still hold sway, but confides his observations of marriage have dented rather than whetted his appetite.
From the outside looking in, he says, marriage "isn't always very pleasant".
- SAPA