Shashe

 It always leaves an unpleasant taste, I am sure, in the mouth of a President when he/she is forced by the speech writers to refer to a former President as such, in a speech. I recall when President Bill Clinton sent former President Carter to some country in South America as his (Clinton's) emissary on some mission. When addressing the nation, President Clinton did not say "I have sent former President Carter..." Instead, he said "I have sent President Carter..." This sounded not only good but correct, in my view. While to every other American, Mr. Carter was former President, to the US President, he was and still is, President Carter. This is simple Presidential decorum. Not only that, as a US citizen, then President Clinton had every right to have someone/some people that he too can call "President". I don't know how my President, Mokgweetsi Masisi refers to former President Khama, if he ever refers to him at all. I hope that his speech writers ...

 Today my fairly new radio receiver, equipped with something called an accumulator, actually managed to tune into a Botswana broadcasting station. Before it randomly cut off again, I listened to a government Covid-19 representative present a priority list of how the government is going to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination program. As expected, the top priority is that of medical providers. I cannot remember who else was in the list, apart from some category he called "essential service providers". He mentioned three categories all together. I am at a loss as to whom he has in mind as essential service provider. Surely Covid-19 vaccination should not be subject to the same priority as was exemption from lockdown when the latter was declared at the beginning of the outbreak last year? Then, it was understandable and acceptable that drivers of the Government fleet, Police, Government spies, bank workers, all be exempted from lockdown as they were all essential service providers,...