Our attention has been brought to a recent address reportedly made to Botswana envoys to the world by the President, His Excellency Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi.
It is reported in the Botswana Daily News that President Masisi submitted to Excellencies that the former President of Botswana His Excellency Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama had or was conducting himself in a manner aimed at tarnishing the image of Botswana in the international arena. Dr. Masisi is said to have assigned the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) to “respond to the negative utterances about government…” allegedly made by General Khama.
We also note with keen interest a not so surprising contradictory tone by the President given the record of his public utterances, that responses to General Khama “should be carried out with honour and respect within the full understanding of the cultural norms and ethos of Botswana”, and “in accordance with the laws of Botswana and respectful of the former president’s status”.
Respectful of the former President, really? Well a good start would be to unseal his house and return his private property as the High Court has declared both to be unlawful, restore the Red-Line service at his Private Office, restrain Minister Kgotla Autlwetse from disrespecting Khama by making ridiculous allegations about the former President in meetings with Dikgosana in the Central District, and further restrain Minister Morwaeng from occasionally making disrespectful remarks about the former President.
Most importantly the President would be well advised to not use the so-called constitutional review commission to fan the flames of tribalism.
But who in all honesty is tarnishing the image and international profile of the country?
This would have been a much welcome change of tone by Dr. Masisi and worthy of respect and appreciation, except that it is coming from a President who himself has no regard for the very cultural norms and ethos that he is talking about. Dr. Masisi is on record disrespecting and verbally abusing ordinary citizens of the country including senior citizens and public officers in kgotla meetings.
Various organs of civil society, the media and ordinary citizens have condemned the conduct of the President and that of the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services commonly known as the DIS, pointing out how the image of the country is being thrown into disrepute with respect to good governance and the rule of law.
It was under Dr Masisi in 2020 that the European Union blacklisted Botswana for “lax control against terrorism financing and money laundering”. World-wide media reported this reputational damage which they noted “complicates financial relations with the European Union”.
Dr Masisi inherited a Botswana that under General Khama had been rated the least corrupt country in Africa and among the least corrupt in the world by Transparency International. Up to 2018 the country was placed in the top 17% of nations covered by the study, ranking “above almost two thirds of the nations of Europe”. This represented the perception of international business, academia and financial markets.
It was under President Khama that Botswana adopted a zero tolerance to corruption by strengthening the authority and operations of the Directorate on Economic Crime and Corruption (DCEC), the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board, the Competition Authority and the Financial Intelligence Agency. Additional functional control measures came in the form of Anti-Corruption Units in Ministries. There was never an environment in which law enforcement agencies found themselves in what amounts to one reporting to the other, with parallel mandates, unable to function due to apparent political interference in terms of their statutes.
Where are we today? Has the country advanced or declined in such rankings and milestones? Are our oversight institutions unfettered in cracking down on abuses of public resources including tenders for mega projects and nepotism? What of the reported interference of the DIS in the operations of the DCEC? The answer to all of these cannot be in the affirmative. This, under President Masisi, is what has hurt the country’s international image and reputation. Blaming and bad mouthing former President Khama for speaking out will not help. Neither will the President’s desperate plea to foreign envoys to save the country, nor will responses to Khama by the PSP, or reducing the head of the public service to issuing rebuttals.
General Khama is not the President of Botswana now, and therefore not the one accountable for the country’s international rankings. Neither is he responsible for the impressions of such bodies as Transparency International, The African Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, the European Commission and others on the business environment, the rule of law, democracy, corruption and economic crime in Botswana. Nor is the former President accountable to such influential bodies as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other global credit and financing agencies for the economic and political management of the country which have rated very poorly in world rankings.
In recent months and weeks former President Khama was requested interviews by several foreign and local media, which he granted, based on their own research and impressions of the environment in Botswana with respect to politics, justice, the rule of law, human rights and civil liberties, and of course his differences with President Masisi. Similar enquiries have come from far afield including the wider Africa, Europe and the Americas. General Khama did not volunteer or solicit to be interviewed.
In his responses the former President put out the painful truth about the state of affairs in Botswana, not just in respect of his differences with President Masisi, but also in regard to abuse of political authority by the current government, erosion of civil liberties and personal freedoms of individuals, some of whom are political opponents to President Masisi, others ordinary citizens, and relatives and associates of General Khama.
If the President is so concerned about the international image of the country he would start with a demonstration of humility and decorum in his public utterances, not arrogance and a pompous attitude. He must remember that what he says has a bearing on public policy and the character of our nation.
Since it is reported that the centrepiece of his address to the High Commissioners and Ambassadors was complaints about Khama, Dr. Masisi should have taken Excellencies into confidence and truthfully laid bare what exactly caused his fallout with former President Khama, and if and how he has made or responded to any effort to broker peace.
Deliberate official dishonesty including abusing privileged appearance before the Public Accounts Committee to discredit Khama as tacitly instructed by the President, and to falsely portray Khama as the one refusing to engage is neither going to repair the reputational damage done to Botswana by Dr. Masisi’s government, nor do the President and this country any good.
The President would have updated the envoys on how he is tackling the cancer of runaway corruption that is persistently alleged of himself and his associates as reported in the public media. His Excellency would have shared how he is attempting to stabilise the public service and stem the tide of back and forth whimsical transfers and dismissals of public officers whom he associates with former President Khama, in the process leaving mega projects and other government business in disarray. This is hurting the delivery of public services as well as investor confidence in the country’s ability to facilitate business.
Dr. Masisi would save himself unnecessary headache by not treating political opponents as criminals against whom charges can be fabricated and judicial evidence to the contrary ignored even despite affirmation by the Courts, in the process discrediting our own Central Bank and offending a neighbouring country. This has hurt the reputation of the Bank of Botswana and the integrity of both the country’s monetary and fiscal policies.
President Masisi must realise that he cannot continue to be absent, silent or turn a blind eye in the face of the public outcry about the alleged abuses by the DIS that has come from Parliament and other law enforcement agencies, even from within the DIS itself.
The Botswana Federation of Public Private and Parastatal Sector Unions has already warned that “democracy, peace, and stability” of the country are in tatters as a result of the erosion of the rule of law and deprivation of justice to ordinary citizens. This speaks also to the image and international profile of the country on matters of human rights.
Finally, it is a fallacy of epic proportions to claim that the ubiquitous illegal detentions and public humiliation of suspects and disregard for Court Orders are somehow a demonstration of equality before the law.
Nobody deserves to be subjected to the indignity of illegal detention just so that it can be said that they are not above the law.
Mogomotsi Kaboeamodimo
Chief Executive Officer
SKI KHAMA FOUNDATION
