Botswana is an authoritarian constitutional arrangement- Gaolathe

Nicholas MokwenaBG reporter President of the Alliance for Progressives ( AP) Ndaba Gaolathe says that the cabinet has usurped Parliament‘ s powers and mandate. The Executive in Botswana has completely usurped Parliament’s mandate through both uses of the majority and also through concentrating resources around the work of the Executive and suffocating resources that could otherwise empower Members of Parliament to accomplish the mandate vested on them by the Constitution. Gaolathe argued that there is no clearer demonstration of dictatorship than an Executive that also runs the Legislative process. In Botswana, Gaolathe said, the Executive implements law and creates law at the same time.

Delivering a lecture about Constitutional arrangement in Botswana, Gaolathe said there cannot be a stronger demonstration of the superfluous idea of separation of powers in Botswana. He indicated that this arrangement is by definition an authoritarian arrangement.

“Executive branch of Botswana wields both executive and legislative power, and this is how they do it: In the five days that Parliament meets in a week, the procedures are designed such that four days are reserved only for the Executive to present their business; The legislation drafters are seated at the Attorney General’s Chambers and so are part of the Executive and accountable to the Executive, not to Parliament, and certainly not to Members of Parliament; and in practice, Members of Parliament do not have dedicated legislation drafters available to them. “As if this is not enough, the oversight institutions, charged with the responsibility to provide checks and balances, particularly on the Executive, where much of the budget and its implementation rests are in many ways accountable to the Executive,” the AP leader said.

He explained that the Auditor- General is appointed, supervised, and monitored by the very organ, the Executive, over which she is supposed to keep in check. This is just one example, and applies to the litany of supposedly oversight institutions such as the DCEC, Ombudsman, NBFIRA, and FIA to name the prominent ones, he added. He indicated that in more progressive constitutional configurations, these oversight institutions are significantly free from control by the Executive, and report directly to Parliament. “If we allow things to continue this way, we are allowing the flooding rivers to wash away everything from which we derive meaning. This is the state of our current Constitutional arrangement. There is famine, an absence of a uniform idea or ideal that we can at present say is common, or known or cherished by all of us. “We cannot say there is that meaning against which we can hold each other accountable, there is no meaning against which we can uniformly hold those in power accountable.

“That is why in the new Botswana, we pledge that every citizen will be able to hold any Government, and indeed hold each other accountable if the system is not “giving each citizen a fair chance, a fair flow of opportunities, to become who we aspire to be,” Gaolathe told his audience. He explained that this is not to say that there have not been moments in the life of the journey as a nation when checks and balances have not come to life. “We of the new Botswana pledge a way of governing that separates power for legislative, executive, and judicial functions,” Gaolathe said. The former legislator explained that history has demonstrated that such separation is necessary to nourish fairness, competence, and effectiveness in Government. These ingredients, he said are necessary to guarantee “a fair chance” for every citizen. “The separation of powers and indeed a commitment to such a separation form part of “the soul” of this larger Constitutional life and body. The French philosopher Montesquieu, in his marvelous L’Espirit Delois defines tyranny as a Constitutional arrangement where there is no separation of powers. “We are not in it for the beautiful philosophical entertainment though, our pledge is rooted in the burden of responsibility to ensure that this nation always governs itself in a way that guarantees each citizen will “have a fair chance to be anything they wish to be,” regardless which political party is in power.

“We, of the new Botswana, know there is a commonly- held view that there is a separation of powers in Botswana.” According to the AP leader to be sure, the written Constitution of Botswana alludes to three organs of Government on which executive, legislative and judicial powers are vested. However, the Constitution is not simply about a written document, he said adding that it is about the body of life around what is meaningful to people and the soul. He argued that there is no commitment in the current governing of Botswana to separate the powers of Government. In fact, Botswana is an authoritarian constitutional arrangement, Gaolathe contended.