It was bound to happen - Political analyst
With frustrations over corruption, calls for direct election of president and concerns over the sitting president’s unlimited powers already dominating the constitutional review meetings, political analyst Adam Mfundisi says the outcomes thus far are not surprising.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution led by former chief justice Maruping Dibotelo started its public consultations in Gabane before proceeding to Mmankgodi, Manyana, Ramotswa, Otse/Mogobane and Lobatse in the South East District a fortnight ago.
The consultations have seemingly exposed what could be a revolt against President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s administration, especially in areas where the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) did exceptionally well during the 2019 general elections.
But Mfundisi, who is a lecturer in politics and administrative studies at the University of Botswana (UB), says this has long been coming. According to Mfundisi, citizens are generally dissatisfied with government and the political leadership of the country. Therefore, such meetings are bound to immediately turn into opinion polls.
He warned Masisi to act fast and rethink on the constitutional making process if he is to show strategic leadership. In his response to Mmegi enquiry, Mfundisi said Botswana has lost the character of a republican government and as such it is not surprising that Batswana are turning against President Masisi.
“What we are witnessing in public fora (Kgotla meetings) is not puzzling to say the least. The erosion of public trust and confidence has increased scepticism, cynicisms, and disenchantment with the performance of government and its political leadership,” he said.
Mfundisi felt that the current administration and its operatives are viewed as “pathological liars” because of perpetually providing false information and/or fake news.
According to him, this erosion of public confidence has been accentuated by political consciousness of the people.
He said the President has promised many policy proposals during the 2019 general elections, but to date, most of them have not been fulfilled. In his view, the initial response to the formation of the Commission of Inquiry was skeptical and cynical. He said the question of the Constitution making process is critical to a nascent democracy such as that of Botswana.
“A constitutional reform process must be led by the people not government through the President. The process must be anchored on popular participation by civil society organisations: political parties, trade unions, the media, religious formations, youth organisations and others. Parliament, as a representative institution must be leading the Constitution making process,” he explained.
He added that a statutory instrument should have been designed to lay out the process and instruments of constitutional making, to establish a legitimate social contract between the rulers and the ruled.
Mfundisi stated that the President and his advisers should have learnt from other countries with successful and failed constitutional reforms to adopt the best practices for desirable outcomes. Many groups have bashed Masisi for adopting a top-down approach to the constitutional reform and the political analyst agrees that the approach is bound to attract overt and covert resistance, which will eventually lead to rejection.
He argued that an inclusive, transparent, and participatory process ensures transformation of our democracy to enhance protection of the rights, freedoms and interests of the people.
“I want to emphatically argue that the President and the ruling BDP have been averse to the transformation of the Constitution of Botswana. Government, through various administrations has rejected radical change in the Constitution of Botswana and opted for incremental changes which mostly protected the ruling elite.”
By choosing a Commission of Inquiry, he said, Masisi wanted to maintain an imperial presidency to cement his political grip on power, which is fading by the day.
Echoing the same comments to some who commented during the commission’s meeting, Mfundisi said the President is not directly elected by the people but possesses numerous and far-reaching powers. He noted that if allowed to exert his powers to determine the destiny of this country amounts to political and constitutional suicide. Mfundisi said it is not surprising because Masisi and his party have always shot down progressive proposals for the reformation of the Constitution of Botswana.
“They have not changed their ideology hence the design of the Constitution process and instruments to achieve their political goals and objectives of staying in power by all means. Sentiments and proposals from people in the Southern part of the country resemble the whole country,” he added.
He said as things stand, the President is motivated to promote a strong presidency thereby compromising the balance of power amongst fundamental organs of the State, namely the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary.