Help me find a slim wife, bachelor president appeals

Botswana President Khama Ian Khama, a retired army general, has numerous medals on his chest. But he doesn’t have a ring on his finger.

The 57-year-old leader is probably African’s highest-profile bachelor. Botswana could be among the few African countries – if any – without a First Lady.

Mr Khama’s marital status has been “a source of national concern” with his countrymen questioning whether he believes in the institution of marriage. For a long time, President Khama did not seem to agree with the adage that behind every successful man there is a woman.

Now it is a tall order for his aides who have been sent out to find a “tall, slender and good-looking woman” in a country where women are known for being “heavily built.”

In addition to being president, Mr Khama is a paramount chief of the Bamangwato people, the largest ethnic group in Botswana. This responsibility requires him to marry, but the President has defied tradition.

According to the BBC, although made a chief in 1979, Mr Khama has never assumed the responsibilities of traditional leadership in his village.

Last week, southern Africa media reported that the President, known for a wry sense of humour devoid of social sensibilities, demanded to address those concerned about his marital status.

The Botswana leader told them he never had time to hunt for a wife. “The best that you should do is to go all out and look for the woman that you prefer for me as I hardly have time to hunt for a woman who will become my wife.”

To borrow words from Henry Barrow’s famous poem Building the Nation, the President has been attending to the more urgent and delicate matters of state.

He then declared his requirements for the lady of his desire. “I want to marry a woman who is slim, tall and beautiful,” he said.

To give an example of the type of woman he didn’t want, the President turned to Botlhogile Tshreletso, the Local Government assistant minister.

“I don’t want one like this one. She may fail to pass through the door, breaking furniture with her heavy weight and even break the vehicle’s shock absorbers,” he told an audience, the majority of them women, who broke out into ululation.

After his announcement during a party meeting, Angelinah Sengalo, the chair of the women’s wing of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, proposed Emma Wareus, a beauty queen who was the first runner-up in a Miss World beauty contest.

As a fitness fanatic, President Khama is not new to controversy. In 2000 he took one-year leave from office while he was President Festus Mogae’s deputy.

A former army commander and pilot, Mr Khama insists on flying his plane on official trips. The official opposition has accused him of “illegally surpassing his powers to fly military planes, a reserve for only serving military officers according to the Botswana law.”

His profile on a government website and the BBC website says Mr Khama was born in the UK in 1953 to Ruth Williams, an English Lloyds of London bank clerk. Because he married a white woman, his father was deposed as Bangwato chief and exiled by the British.

Young Khama attended school in Botswana’s Serowe village before travelling to Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, Swaziland, Switzerland and the UK where he graduated from Sandhurst Military Academy.

He entered politics in 1998 when he was elected to parliament as a member of the ruling Botswana Democratic party. He ascended rapidly, becoming minister of presidential affairs and public administration, vice-president (1999), and party chairman (2003).

When President Festus Mogae resigned in 2008, Khama succeeded him and was elected to a full term in 2009.