Wednesday's parliamentary session witnessed the explosion of an underlying subterranean fire that had been simmering for sometime between political foes.

It started off as a normal session and you would not have expected sparks to fly around in the August House. The honourable men and women of the House trooped in and took their seats and thereafter got down to serious business, which included the answering of questions posed by MPs to ministers. The questions were briskly dealt with and then the peace and calm dissipated as Speaker, Margaret Nasha called over the Leader of Opposition, Botswana National Front (BNF) vice-president Olebile Gaborone to the floor to respond to President Ian Khama's State of the Nation address.

Just a few minutes into reading his speech, the South East North legislator was forced to pause, as his former party comrade Nehemiah Modubule interjected, and addressing himself to the Speaker, asked indignantly: "I don't know where you derive powers to call the Leader of Opposition to be the first to respond to the State of the Nation address?" he said.

There was a hush in the House, but the new Speaker waded in and explained that though it is not stated in the Standing Orders, the House agreed about three years ago that the practice should be that the Leader of Opposition be the one who speaks first.

However, Modubule would not yield. He fired back, strongly calling for Nasha to desist from running "this Parliament on the whims and wings of the speaker. It should be decided who speaks when, through legal means," he said.

You could see that Modubule was spoiling for a fight and was ready to defend his stance on what he saw as a breach of parliamentary procedure.

Some Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Members of Parliament (MPs) who were clearly enjoying the exchange, made snide remarks, saying that Modubule was bitter that he was chased from the BNF, hence he was trying to frustrate his former party boss, Gaborone.

On the other hand Nasha, who was obviously losing her patience, reiterated that Parliament had agreed that the Leader of Opposition would be the first to take the floor in responding to the President's speech. She was not amused by Modubule's choice of words. Putting her foot down, Dr Nasha said: "It has nothing to do with whims and I want to tell the honourable MP that I have no wings."

As all this exchange took place, Gaborone affected a wry smile on his face as he waited to continue with his speech.

He got back to the floor and just in the middle of his first sentence, Deputy Speaker Pono Moatlhodi stood up and advised that an MP is not supposed to read his/her speech, but "rather should consult with books or any reference material time and again to seek quotes to clarify a point," he said.

Still holding his written speech, Gaborone defended his action. "Maybe you changed the rules and you didn't tell me," he said, emphasizing that it was not wrong for him to read out his speech in the August National Assembly.

It was now becoming clear that the members, including the new Speaker were experiencing a test of their knowledge of the Standing Orders. Veteran legislator and ruling party chairman Daniel Kwelagobe (DK) tried to cool down the issue.

"Even ministers are not allowed to read, but if it happens that one reads, it is usually on a gentleman's agreement. But I plead with you that we let him continue reading. But let's hope he won't fumble when we fire questions at him because he was reading from a speech," he said.

At first it looked like they would let him go on with his speech, but it was not to be, as the erstwhile Modubule who looked poised to make it very difficult for his former BNF vice president to read his speech, said allowing Gaborone to read would be a breach of the rules of the game. He appealed to the Speaker to stick to the Standing Orders.

"I remember that even His Excellency the President (Khama) who had to address Parliament one time here, a motion had to be moved to say if he should do so. So if we moved a motion for the President why can't we likewise move a motion on the Leader of Opposition?" he asked.

It was at this time that an old rivalry between political titans in Vice President Mompati Merafhe and his party chairman Kwelagobe threatened to play itself out. It is common knowledge that the two, though in the same party, are not the best of pals. In trying to bring an end to the debate over whether Gaborone should read his speech or not, Merafhe said that there was no need to debate after Nasha had ordered that Gaboroneshould read.

"Madam Speaker you made a ruling, that the Leader of Opposition should read and according to the Standing Orders, your ruling is final. It is not subject to debate," he said.

But Kwelagobe was unconvinced and launched a 'counter attack, advising the Speaker that even though her ruling has to be obeyed it must be within the parameters of the Standing Orders. He went on to support Modubule's assertion that "a motion be moved so members can vote on whether Gaborone should read or not," he said.

"I was rising to say that. Let's vote," added Nasha.

An overwhelming majority agreed that he should read, causing Nasha to remark "Jaanong modumo e ne e le ka eng? (So what was the fuss all about?)."

Gaborone was thus given the blank cheque to flout the rules of the House to read his speech.