UDC PETITIONS PRESIDENT MASISI ON NATIONAL ISSUES THAT THREATEN BOTSWANA’S DEMOCRACY
Noting that democracy does not exist because of any ruling party, but as a result of the whole nation’s efforts and years of commitment; further that Botswana’s democracy and peace are the results of our collective efforts of over five decades, and further noting that it was our people’s strong beliefs through their political, social and religious organizations that our country is where it is today; further noting that it has been our government’s separation of powers into the executive, for legislature and judiciary, as well as the commitment of all political parties to the rule of law and electoral democracy that have nurture and promoted our democracy; Concerned, however, that developments in our country since President Masisi came to power on 1st April 2018 are posing a serious threat to our democracy, peace and stability.
Amongst these threats are: the failed transition from the Ian Khama Seretse Khama Presidency to the Masisi’s Presidency, the deepening and widespread poverty and inequalities in our society with associated high levels of unemployment especially among the youth, low wages, growing retrenchments of workers, high cost of living, intolerable levels of gender-based violence, corruption, lack of free and objective state media which have been turned into BDP’s propaganda tool, state managed harassment of citizens through a pseudo called Museveni, infighting in the different branches of the security service; growing intolerance to opposition by the current government, and above all, President’s recent alleged interference with the Judiciary, as reported by among others Justice Ketlogetswe and Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, noting further that these allegations, in fact, corroborate what the UDC raised post-2019 elections and the Law Society of Botswana in the past few years; That therefore, as one of the custodians and architects of our hard-earned democracy and peace, UDC henceforth present the following demands on behalf of Batswana for immediate action by President Masisi and his government:
1. That the President, his Ministers and other state apparatus who are currently interfering with Judicial independence must stop
forthwith. That the accusations made by such responsible citizens and organizations are very serious.
2. That the government must immediately adopt all democratic processes of appointment of judges which involves extensive consultations, transparency and use of merit followed by in-built
Parliamentary oversight in order to stop appointment of judges on the basis of other considerations rather than merit.
3. Given deepening poverty, spreading poverty in the context of high cost of living and the weak government’s capability to relieve especially the most vulnerable youth and poverty stricken people, that government should introduce unemployment allowance on trial basis for the next twelve months.
4. That given growing level of corruption, the government should set up a commission of inquiry into causes of corruption and how to address it through strong oversight institutions that report directly to Parliament.
5. That once again, UDC calls on government to set-up a research based temporary vehicle to thoroughly investigate cause of gender-based violence which will recommend institutionalized
long term solutions to this problem beyond talking and blaming victor and victims using superficial solutions.
6. UDC calls upon on President Masisi and his government to stop using state media to push BDP agenda.
7. That there should be no retrenchments in the ongoing rationalization of state owned enterprises. Already a lot of our people are struggling to find employment and the state-led retrenchments will not assist the situation.
8. Finally, we call on President Masisi to resuscitate the All-Party Conference as a forum of consultation on national issues of concern such as the review of the Constitution, Unemployment, Gender-based Violence and Electoral reforms. This done at Nkange in the Central District on the 22nd of October 2022