The Sunday Standard of 22 ÔÇô 28 February 2009 ran a headline “Khama magic waning ÔÇô national survey”. In their opening paragraph, the paper writes: “If President Ian Khama was running for the 2009 elections on the basis of his leadership style alone, he would already be clearing his office drawers and packing his bags”. These conclusions drawn by the Sunday Standard are purportedly informed by the Afrobarometer report. However, having gone through the Afrobarometer report and the data as presented, the opposite obtains whereas the Presidents approval rating stands at 88% (52% strong approval). Asked which party the voters will go for should there be a Presidential election, 69% would vote the BDP, 13% the BNF and 8% BCP. From the above data, one finds it difficult to reconcile this with the headline “Khama magic waning ÔÇô national survey”.
It is worth deconstructing the abovementioned figures with regards a Presidential election versus Khama’s popularity rating, with the aim to account for the disparity. We should bare in mind that the country does not offer ‘direct’ direct elections of the President, and so the respondents assumed President Khama to be or as the BDP candidate. The 88% approval rating for President Khama was in direct or specific reference to his Excellency. Conversely, the 69% was not in direct reference to the President, but participants made some assumptions that President Khama would most certainly be the BDP Presidential candidate. It could be argued that had the question been explicit on and about the Presidential election (Khama as BDP Presidential candidate); the 69% could probably have been upped.
Going by the headline “Is Khama all that” the Sunday Standard quotes from the Afrobarometer: “There are perceptions that since assuming office in 2008, President Khama has issued more directives compared to his predecessors. Although it is still early to be conclusive about his style of rule, these directives suggest that he has a propensity to act alone and rule by decree”. President’s rule by directives, which in most cases are sponsored by the parent Ministry before being presented to Cabinet for debate, and on the basis of advice from Cabinet, the President will issue a directive. To suggest therefore that there is a correlation between the number of directives issued and the inclination to act alone and rule by decree, as highlighted by Afrobarometer report shows a lack of understanding on how the government system works and is at best disingenuous and insincere.
Truly, as captured by the said paper, Batswana overwhelmingly showed their support for media and individual freedoms. Government would like to assert that indeed they are in sync with Batswana in as far as support for the media and freedom of speech is concerned. As evidence to prove that Government supports freedom of speech and media freedom, Government came up with the Media Practitioners Act. Contrary to what other scribes assert, the Media Bill did not sail through Parliament without debate, but “it is a product of extended stakeholder consultations beginning in 2003, which involved media organisations and the public” as the Coordinator of BGCIS Dr Jeff Ramsay pointed out.
The objects of the Media Practitioners Act, stated in black and white are:
To preserve media freedom; to uphold standards of professional conduct and promote good ethical standards and discipline among media practitioners; to promote the observance of media ethics in accordance with the Code of Ethics; to promote public awareness of the rights and responsibilities of media practitioners, through such outreach programmes as may be established; to bring together media practitioners and other media stakeholders in Botswana, with a view to exchanging information, sharing ideas and dealing with any challenges facing the development of the media industry; to sponsor training in media work and advise on matters pertaining to the education and training of media practitioners; etc.
The Media Practitioners Act aims therefore to empower all the stakeholders (media houses, the public etc) contrary to the view that it is an assault on freedom of speech. The Government would like to advice the nation at large that they adhere to the Policy Cycle dictum, which amongst others calls for the evaluation of their policies during and after the implementation phase. Academics, Media Practitioners and interested members of the public are encouraged to undertake research throughout the implementation of the Media Practitioners Act so as to assist in the evaluation exercise and feed into the public policy cycle.
Findings by Afrobarometer appear in general to support the current Government initiatives. This is despite the fact that in their paper entitled “Demanding Democratic Rule: Batswana Support Democracy and reject Non-Democratic Alternatives” which was fed to the press and other stakeholders, Afrobarometer researchers chose to be selective in presenting data that showed President Khama’s (BDP) government in good stead. When asked how free they are, 83% of respondents were completely free, whilst 10% felt somewhat. 77% of the public further stated that the President never ignores the laws of the country, while only 5% said he often or always ignored the law. Asked which party the respondents will vote for, 55% would vote for President Khama’s BDP, 14% BNF and 7% BCP. The paper however captured respondents’ perceptions when asked how well the current government is managing the economy; 76% of respondents felt the government was doing fairly well.
In conclusion, one finds it difficult to buy into the assertion by Sunday Standard that the Afrobarometer study was undertaken as a result of the ‘bubbling broth of assault against freedom of speech’. For the record Afrobarometer maintains that they are an independent, non-partisan research project that measures the social, political, and economic atmosphere in Africa (not Botswana alone), and the instrument asks a standard set of questions. By implication therefore, the study can not be influenced by a single event in a particular country. Therefore the suggestion that the Afrobarometer study was undertaken as a result of an assault against freedom of speech is devoid of the truth.
Dr Dingalo is Director of Research and Policy Development
BGCIS – Office of the President
