31 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
Wene Owino
Gaborone
President Festus Mogae of Botswana hands over power to Ian Khama on Tuesday, joining the small group of African leaders who have left office without seeking to extend their rule.
The smooth transition follows the example set by his predecessor, Sir Ketumile Masire, who stepped down in 1998, even though he had 11 more years to go.
Contrary to what many African leaders would have done, Masire did not contest elections in 1999 and 2004 to complete the newly introduced limit of two five-year terms. He had already been in power for 18 years, and there was nothing preventing him from exploiting the new law, like former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and Ugandaʼs Yoweri Museveni did.
However, he not only declined to rule for another two terms, but also heeded calls from within the party and stepped down 18 months before the end of his final term.
Mogae, his hand-picked successor, is similarly giving away 18 months before the next general elections after serving two five-year terms.
In reality, however, Mogae has not served 10 years because, for the first 18 months, he was completing Masireʼs term. But the Batswana and their leaders are faithful to conventions. That is why the matter of a third term for Mogae fizzled out within a week when the local Press tried to make it an issue at a time when a similar debate was raging in Nigeria and South Africa.
During his last days in office, Mogae has been at peace with himself. He has toured the country bidding the people goodbye and has already moved out of State House.
During Mogaeʼs 10-year rule, Botswana maintained its reputation as a politically and economically stable country. This is despite the fact that he was once derided as a reluctant president, a serial goofer, a shrinking president and a political coward. Early in his presidency, he committed a series of political blunders, one of which resulted in the countryʼs first and only state of emergency.
In 1999, an error by the Attorney-Generalʼs office saw Mogae sign the writ for the general elections before the names of over 60,000 registered voters were entered into the votersʼroll. To correct the anomaly, he took the drastic measure of declaring a state of emergency, which allowed him to recall an already dissolved parliament to pass a law to include the voters in the roll.
He then confronted the media to own up to the goof and take personal responsibility although the Attorney-Generalʼs office was responsible for the blunder.
Another slip-up involving Mogae led to the postponement of a national referendum for reform and a subsequent court case of unprecedented proportions. Once again, the blunder originated from then attorney-general, Phandu Skelemani, now Presidential Affairs Minister.
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A commission was set up to look into the matter but after it completed its work, Skelemani went to court and sued the president and himself as the AG. The case arose after Mogae insisted that the state would not pay for the AGʼs legal costs when he appeared before the commission probing the referendum mess.
Skelemani appeared before the commission with a highly-paid South African lawyer and countered that the state must foot the bill because he was being probed as the AG and not in his personal capacity. This set the stage for a major battle, with Mogae hiring a South African advocate to represent him.
He insisted that as the AG, Skelemani would also represent him in the case. But as the nation was preparing for a major battle, the matter was settled out of court in a deal believed to have been very favourable to Skelemani.
(Read more stories on President Mogae at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/31/africa/AF-POL-Botswana.php)
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