It has not been made clear why up to now our parliament has not come up with a law requiring that political leaders should declare that commercial interests. In the past efforts were made to pass such a law. Such efforts were however scuppered on the last hour by internal differences within the ruling Botswana Democratic Party.
Shamelessly, the opponents of the law said argued that it would force them to even declare their children born outside wedlock, which on its own, patently untrue as it was goes a long way to demonstrate the extent to which our political leaders are prepared to use public office to promote and even hide their adulterous acts. Painfully too has been the fact that the declaration of assets and interests was not part of the public debate leading into the General Elections back in October.
That on its own goes a long way to demonstrate that such a law is really not a priority among our political leaders; government and opposition alike. We call on both the opposition and government parties to re-start this important debate. In our opinion the establishment of such a practice will infuse the much needed public trust in our politics. In fact we need not only to open the debate but also to broaden it.
The law calling for such declaration is long overdue. All those holding political office should not only declare their interest, they should also publicly state their net worth. Some people here might think this is a little bit over the top. It is not. Elsewhere this is a standard and elementary requirement for those who choose to serve in public offices. In other countries they go further to demand that all those seeking political office should go as far as to prove that they have been paying tax as demanded by the law. Failure to comply carries with it ramifications, including punitive ones.
The intention is not to penetrate the leaders’ private lives, but rather to allow them a chance to prove that they can be trusted to conduct public business on behalf of the nation. While we are still there it is important that cabinet should make a decision to always share with the public by way of releasing a public statement summarizing major decisions taken at cabinet meetings.
This is important if the public is going to be a participant is the running of the country. This too happens in many democracies across the world. What is important is to note the fact that sensitive information, including that which has the potential to harm our international interests is left out.
We need to broaden transparency rather than limit it. Rather than accuse the media of insensitivity, we need to provide more information and put it in the public domain so that there is no need for the media to go behind the scenes and try to use unconventional ways to determine what was discussed at cabinet level when the truth of the matter is that most of what is discussed there, while unreasonably classified as confidential, it is by all intents and purposes innocuous even if made public.
