Hon Dr Unity Dow has noticed the National Assembly she intends to table a Motion on the prohibition of external funding for political parties. I am not aware whether the Motion has already been presented and debated. Be that as it may, The Motion nevertheless reads that ‘This Honourable House resolves to request Government to pass Legislation that forbids external funding of elections, whether they be primary or general for the best interests of this country’. As a general proposition, it is a widely held view that political funding for political parties is a requirement for such political parties be they be in power or in Opposition. This for the simple reason that these political parties run their programmes and activities on a levelled playing field whereupon the party in power will not be advantaged in one respect or the other while those in Opposition are disadvantaged equally in one respect or the other. The circumstances where the playing field is uneven for political parties in this country has been evident in her political history since independence to this day.
On one hand, Hon Dr Dow’s Motion seeks in my understanding to forbid ‘external funding of elections’. That is, no political party must be permitted to receive external funding. I concur with her on this point. Numerous literature is available on the dangers of political parties by procuring external funding. Some of the dangers is that procuring external funding could be from illicit funds and from unscrupulous funders like terrorist organisations whose overall intentions will be to perpetuate their terrorist agenda. The other one could be for the funded political parties to be beholden to the funders wherein rewards of sorts is expected. The principle of funding for good intentions will be lost. In the circumstances therefore, the Motion on proper reading seeks to cure the undesirable effects of political parties stepping into the trap of external funders whose intentions may be very difficult to determine.
On the other, the Motion does not appear to deal with the elephant in the room and that is the question of requesting Government to pass Legislation that compels her to fund political parties in order for the playing field to be level. As already alluded to above, Opposition political parties have for time immemorial been calling without success, that such Legislation be passed. Hon Dr Dow’s own political party the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) which has been in power since independence, has continually been talking about political funding with forked tongue. On one hand, the BDP accepts the importance of political funding because it promotes democracy while on the other, it does absolutely nothing.
The reason why the BDP has never facilitated a Legislation on political party funding is that given the advantage of incumbency it has enjoyed since independence, it has benefitted immeasurably therefrom in terms of financial and other resources required to run a successful political party let alone a successful campaign during the elections. It has been in the public domain that successful business moguls in Botswana and probably elsewhere have funded the BDP particularly on the basis that it is the ruling party and therefore in a privileged position to create favourable conditions for such businesses to operate and grow. So why has Hon Dr Dow chosen to come with a Motion that seeks to prohibit external funding for political parties as opposed to coming with a Motion that seeks to legislate for political funding?
The answer could very well lie with the suggestion that the BDP is sensing through the Motion in question a more than tough campaign from Opposition parties if the tap to their campaign resources is not closed. The BDP would not want to be on the same scale with the Opposition on whatever front. It has become clear to me that the BDP is slowly but surely losing the grip on Batswana voters in general and their very own in particular who have become increasingly disillusioned with it from many fronts. While it is argued by some that the recent losing streak in the Council by elections is not a true reflection of the BDP’s bad performance, some will argue that is the case. Socio-economic circumstances Batswana find themselves faced with; the seemingly below average performance of the Executive and the failure of the Rule of Law as replaced by the Rule of Man on a daily basis have aggravated the disillusionment probably to the point of no redemption.
It will be remembered the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) mounted a well-resourced campaign in 2019 where arguably, it matched the BDP almost pound for pound. It should also be remembered the Opposition particularly the UDC had in the political history of this country, had access to aircrafts-a benefit that has been exclusive only to the BDP. Hon Dr Dow is trying through her Motion to shut the door on Opposition political parties to access external while leaving the same ajar to the BDP. This because it will be difficult if not impossible to identify external funding destined to the BDP as opposed to the same to Opposition political parties because the BDP holds all the levers of power to determine what goes into the country and to whom. It stands to reason the BDP will see everything and anything wrong with external funding for Opposition parties and nothing wrong with everything and anything that goes in its favour. As a legal scholar clothed with human rights accolades, I would have imagined Hon Dr Dow would have proposed a law that compels government to fund political parties in order to ensure the right of every citizen to elect a political party of choice is so protected in order to create a fair and conducive political environment for a fair outcome and by extension, promotion of our democracy. It will be foolhardy to suggest the BDP is a true proponent of progressive democracy. Indisputable evidence is there for all see that Botswana has regressed so much in her democratic credentials and continues to do so.
To the extent that Hon Dr Dow Motion seeks to prohibit external political party funding presumably for the deleterious consequences such would bring to Botswana, I concur with her that is the right way to go. That said, it is my considered view that the Motion on the flipside of the foregoing, is made in bad faith in that it stands to de-capacitate Opposition political parties in one way or the other. While external funding is bad as already said, the current set up forces them to seek funding even from unscrupulous entities. Needless to state Opposition political parties do not stand a chance of procuring funding from internal entities because the said businesses would only want to be associated with the ruling party for obvious reasons. Only political funding guaranteed by government is the only route that can ensure no political party receives external funding particularly if such is not declared for verification purposes should the need arise. I argue very strongly that Hon Dr Dow re-visits her Motion to include political party funding such that it results in a win-win situation to all concerned. Otherwise, the Motion is a double-edged sword where the BDP will benefit in a big way while the Opposition is left in the lurch. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. Covid-19 is still our immediate threat notwithstanding the low numbers.
