2 April 2008
editorial
Botswana's own 'Super Tuesday', also April Fool's Day, has come to pass. It was indeed an extraordinary day. Not only did the day usher in a new president, Ian Khama and his new cabinet. Khama unwrapped his long kept secret of his choice of Vice President and ended the day by overhauling cabinet.
While Khama's ascendancy was a foregone conclusion, the post of the VP has been Khama's closely-guarded secret. Speculation, some of it quite wild, had been thrown around regarding the appointment.
Instead of doing the over-beaten path of speculating, Mmegi invested in a much more scientific approach by engaging in a survey. The survey, limitations notwithstanding, revealed that Merafhe was some kind of the people's preference. We do not know what Khama's consideration of Vice President were based on. The fact, however, is that he chose Merafhe. We cannot claim to have been vindicated but we did help the debate.
Vice President Merafhe has not been given ministerial responsibility and we believe that in keeping with Khama's philosophy,the Vice President will devote much of his time to project implementation and ensuring that service delivery across ministries becomes not a priority but a commitment.
It is encouraging that the President has appointed personnel even in the civil service to oversee specific projects such as the Mmamabula project, the Kazungula bridge project and others. We hope this task mastering and attention to specific details heralds a new era of delivery.
It is still very early to make an informed comment on the appointment of ministers but we believe it was based on the ability to deliver results. Ministers as head of key government units have to lead by example.
The days of paper pushing and counting of paper clips in government and even in any sector should come to an end.
In his inauguration speech, President Khama talked about weeding out non-performers and giving the civil service a fresh impetus while at the same time ensuring that 'botho' underpines every service initiative.
We gather from President Khama's inaugural speech that he will not burden the nation with more well thought out programmes, but that he will concern himself with 'seeking outcomes' that will make Vision 2016 a more feasible project.
His proposed meeting with the public service leaders in the coming week, local government employees the following week, give an indication of a President with a 'work'-based agenda.
The nation watches with renewed hope and great expectations.
Today's Thought
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
- George Bernard Shaw
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