Khama slams leaders who refuse to leave power
News
President Lt Gen Ian Khama has condemned leaders who refuse to leave power by trying to manipulate an entire elections process which results in countries being plunged into conflicts.
Khama revealed this when officially opening the 18TH Annual General Conference of Electoral Conference Forum- Southern African Development Committee (ECF-SADC) this week, in Gaborone. Khama who is the Chairman of SADC said countries should be committed to the rule of law and democratic ideals.
“Elections should build a nation and not break it. Elections must promote the citizenry’s right to freely choose their leaders guided by Electoral Management Bodies (EMBSs) that serve them without favour, fear or prejudice,” he said and added that, “Elections have to be conducted in a manner that adheres to the legal framework and also have to, of necessity be accompanied by unquestionable integrity of those who manage and conduct them.”
Khama said the focus of the forum on challenges that might besiege SADC countries and threaten democracy is commendable and must be transformed into a culture of protecting electoral democracy to ensure peace and stability.
Khama remarked that it is important for any successful election to be accompanied by serious political adherence for the sake of social, political and economic progress, peace and stability.
“It is common that election related conflicts in many parts of Africa including SADC are self-inflicted,” he said.
This he said, is more often than not “the result of attempts to manipulate constitutions to extend otherwise expired terms of office or alterations to electoral calendars and at worst influence elections outcomes and also not conforming to our own guidelines for conduct of elections.”
Botswana is known for their uncompromising position when it comes to condemning stated leaders who refuse to leave power or extend their tenure in office.
At his inauguration as chairperson of SADC last year, Khama spoke against the violence in Burundi which were instigated by the country’s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, who was seeking a third term albeit unconstitutionally.
In 2008, Botswana boycotted South African Development Committee (SADC) summit, owing to the fact that ‘illegitimate’ Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe was invited to be part of the summit. Botswana had publicly announced that it did not recognise Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe following his victory in an election that was widely condemned as a sham.
Botswana would later change her stance and embraced Mugabe after a compromise deal allowed both Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai to form government of national unity.
Africa has a reputation of being a conflict riddled continent which has been labelled as the top reason for hindering progress economically and politically. Khama has however expressed optimism that the continent is moving away from government established through unconstitutional means to those guided by principles of democratic elections.
He said this transformation is faced by serious challenges which call for absolute commitment of political and electoral actors to the electoral process.
Khama has already assured the nation and the continent that he will leave office at the end of term. Khama who took over from Festus Mogae in 2008, will see his presidential tenure closing at the end of March in 2018, and will join a rarefied list of African presidents who left their seats gladly.
If Khama leaves office he will be in a pole position to win the coveted Ibrahim Prize, an award sponsored by Mo Ibrahim Foundation and given to former democratically elected African president who have served within constitutionally mandated term.
His predecessor, Mogae, won the award in 2008 after leaving office. The Mo Ibrahim Prize carries $5 million (P53 million) over 10 years period and $200,000 (2.1 million) per year for life thereafter.
Khama’s words also come in the wake of the controversial electoral amendment bill which was passed by parliament recently and awaiting president’s signature to come into operation. The bill brings among others; introduction of electronic voting, single vote registration period and increment of fees needed to run for parliamentary and council seats.
There are fears however, that introduction for single vote registration period will disenfranchise eligible voters and make running for elections the preserve of the well-off with the 1000 percent increment of fees for elections candidates.
Opposition parties, Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Botswana Congress Party (BCP) are threatening to challenge the bill in court should Khama sign it into law. UDC is of the opinion that the bill violates section 32 of the constitution, which states that voting should be done through a “given ballot.”
News
Batswana owe banks P79 billion
The Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, has disclosed that the total bank credit extended by commercial banks amounted to P79 billion, out of which P53.4 billion was retail loans and advances to households.
Parliament was informed this week in response to a question by the Member of Parliament for Selibe-Phikwe West and Leader of Opposition (LOO), Dithapelo Keorapetse.
“As at 31st December 2022, loans and other advances extended to households by banks constituted the largest share of bank-lending at 67.6 percent, the majority of which was unsecured personal loans at P36.2 billion (67.8%),” said Serame.
She added that the total household Debt to GDP ratio was 21.9%, while the total private business credit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was 10.8%.
On the other hand, it was noted that outstanding mortgage loans extended to households were P14.2 billion (26.6% of household debt) or 5.9% of GDP. Overall, total bank credit as a ratio of GDP stood at 32.7 percent.
It was acknowledged that there are 10 deposit-taking banks in the country, that is, nine commercial banks and one statutory bank (Botswana Savings Bank). This statistics excludes the National Development Bank (NDB), which is a development finance institution. The nine commercial banks include an indigenous bank, Botswana Building Society Bank Limited (BBSBL), which was issued with a commercial banking license by the Bank of Botswana in October 2022.
Still in December 2022, it was recorded that there were 376 non-bank lenders in Botswana consisting of 246 micro lenders, 66 finance companies, three leasing companies and 61 registered pawnshops.
According to Minister Serame, the loan book value representing the principal amount lent by these entities to individuals and to small, medium and micro Enterprises (SMMEs) is collated by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), which at 31st of December 2021, the loan book values were P5.6 billion for micro lenders, P1.6 billion for finance companies, P225 million for leasing companies and P14 million for pawnshops.
Government policy is that price control is not effective or desirable, and, as such, interest rates are not regulated. Non-regulation may, among other things, result in an increase in non-interest rate fees and commissions, reduced price transparency, lower credit supply and loan approval rates.
“It is important to note that, from a macroeconomic perspective, household debt in Botswana is neither a pandemic nor considered to be excessive. Indeed, the Bank of Botswana’s periodic and continuous assessments of household debt, including through the annual Household Indebtedness Surveys, suggest moderate household indebtedness and therefore, is of no apparent risk to the safety and soundness of the domestic financial system,” said Serame.
She also alluded this assessment is validated by the recently concluded Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) on Botswana undertaken by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
Keorapetse however rebuked the issue of debt not being excessive and noted the Minister thinks it’s fine for Batswana to be debt burdened in a way that their debts diminishes their quality of life.
“A significant portion of Batswana’s salaries go to servicing debts and because she doesn’t see this as a challenge, there can never be any intervention from her side. There is no price regulation on interest, which can go up to 30%+ a month. Since President Masisi ascended to the high office in 2018, 2 384 Batswana were put in prison for failure to pay debts, that is 467 Batswana every year. So, for us, debt problems are big and concerning,” said Keorapetse.
He said they are worried because Batswana are drowning in debts because of relative poverty, slave wages and unemployment/underemployment, they buy basic needs and services with borrowed money and noted predatory and unethical lending has become a major problem in Botswana’s financial sector.
featured
How to fleece P14 million from Chinese investor
The modus operandi of how five men allegedly swindled a Chinese national P14 million last week continue to unravel. Highly placed sources from the intelligence, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) revealed to this publication how the whole scam was concocted.
This content is locked
Login To Unlock The Content!
News
ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”