26 Jun 2017

Former Kutlwano editor and Botswana Press Agency reporter, Thomas Nkhoma, harks back to the 1990s and takes a journey with Sir Ketumile, Botswana’s second president, aboard the presidential jet, code named OK1.

It is Wednesday December 3, 1997.

A soft morning breeze sweeps across the city as we pierce through the sparsely covered Gaborone sky aboard OK1.

A few minutes later we are at cruising point.

I could not help savour not only the moment of travelling in a presidential jet, but the fact that in the front cabin or the presidential suite, which in commercial flights would have been designated business class, sits a man I revered the most.

He is clad in a black-striped suit, which he complements with a white striped-shirt.

I cannot remember the colour of his tie though. What I know for a fact is that he wore black shoes and socks.

I will tell you later on how I came to know of the colour of his socks.

He is Botswana’s second president, Sir Ketumile Masire.

What brings us together today is that later on he will, on behalf of Batswana, pay his last respects to the late Malawi president, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda while my brief is to report on the national paper, DailyNews, what transpired.

The journey would prove to be quite intriguing but exciting experience. Some hours later, we touch down at Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe.

Soon our convoy snakes its way to the state house where for the next five hours the funeral would go on amid downpours of rain that nearly ruined the service, but would not deter thousands of mourners to see it through.

Drama would unfold as we leave for the airport for another OK1 trip back to Gaborone after the funeral. Amid the chaos that ensued as mourners and dignitaries, among them President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, file out of the state house, part of our convoy is caught up in the milieu of traffic as everyone scrambled to be the first out.

Sir Ketumile and his escort managed to maneuverer their way out with ease while then Foreign Affairs Minister, Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe and some officials were left behind and would not catch up with the convoy which was now cruising at high speed to the airport.

I managed to squeeze myself into former Botswana’s High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Mr Benjamin Makobole’s car.

At the airport, Sir Ketumile is taken straight to the waiting aircraft only to realise when he is already aboard that Lt Gen. Merafhe had been left behind. It is now blazing hot, but instead of being a slave to protocol and wait in the airport’s presidential suite, Sir Ketumile decided we wait in the aircraft.

As he sits a few metres away from me with his jacket off and later on walking off his seat with only his socks on, he strikes me as a simple and down to earth man amenable to any situation when time allows.

I cannot imagine a president walking without his shoes on, but there he is, sharing a light moment with his officials as if he is back home.

Under normal circumstances, protocol would have dictated that the minister waits for the president instead of the other way round. Besides, others would have felt agitated and called their officials to order, but this is Sir Ketumile.

After all, he knows these things happen and sometimes it is beyond one’s control.

After what seemed like an eternal wait, the “General” arrives hot under the collar that protocol has been breached, but to Sir Ketumile, it is business as usual. Soon OK1 is cruising back to Gaborone.

We are back again and this time around OK1 takes about 45 minutes to touch down at Maputo International Airport where Sir Ketumile has been invited by his Mozambican counterpart, President Joaquim Chisano, for a one-day business symposium.

However, we find ourselves momentarily trapped inside the aircraft as the door would not open.

After a few minutes, the Botswana Defence Force pilots succeed in opening the door, but only to realise that one of its hydraulic arms had broken.

This means OK1 is now grounded in Maputo as it would not fly with a broken door.

Nonetheless, we proceed to the symposium while officials arranged for alternative transport.

The symposium is a success, but amid the discussions something strikes me as I watch Sir Ketumile walk outside the hall to take a breath of fresh air.

He stands next to a pillar and to a stranger he would not have passed as a president of a country.

Again his simplicity is obvious as he taps the pillar with his palms as if moving to the beat of some distant music. President Chisano joins him.

They chat, laugh and hug. What good buddies they are! Their gesticulations seem to suggest that they have regressed to their childhood.

What a lovable man he is and a friend one can feel comfortable around, Sir Ketumile!

As dusk sets in, we head back to the airport where we find two six-seater chartered aircraft waiting for us.

Sir Ketumile and some of his details and officials board one while the rest of us take the other.

It is a bumpy two-hour ride as the storm buffets the little birds of steel on their way to Gaborone, but we land safely at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.

But wait! play Super Mazembe’s Shauri Yako and you will have Sir Ketumile on the dance floor.

Everytime there was a Botswana Defence Force band playing Sir Ketumile would not leave until they played this song and they knew it.

As I conclude this short tale Sir, I am listening to Shauri Yako… Mtoto wa kwetu (Child of ours) fare thee well and rest in peace!. ENDS