The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) panellist at a roundtable organised by the University of Botswana’s Democracy Research Project, Lawrence Ookeditse was forced to be on the defensive and declared that “the current government is a victim of its own success” and it was being judged unfairly by some in the society.  

Panellists were scrutinising the state of affairs of Botswana’s democracy and the level of development in the country. Ookeditse was the only soul veneering against the stance that the country is on a trance of rearward regression. Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President, Dumelang Saleshando did not show up and so was the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) representative.

The jumbled panel featuring print journalist, Spencer Mogapi; University of Botswana czar of Political Science, Professor Balesi Tsie; BDP activist, Ookeditse; as well as trade union federation, Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) President, Johannes Tshukudu sketched a gloomy picture of the country’s stance and prospects on a myriad topics ranging from the state of affairs in public education, national fiscal deportment, democracy as well as government control over state media, among others.

Defending the status quo, Ookeditse pointed out that Botswana is on the right path as it continues to attract favourable rankings in the region and Africa on aspects of human development, the economy, human rights and democracy. He cautioned that people should be aware that the state media’s purpose is for nation building and held firm that it is doing its job well.

He said while Khama has not addressed the UB academia and the media broadly, he has chosen a more functional approach to engage the populace. However he conceded that a lot can still be done to make Botswana more prosperous.

“The BDP government is the only government in the world that has not downsized its workforce despite advice from the International Monetary Fund,” he said. Ookeditse is convinced that the BDP will still win the 2019 general election.

UB political science lecturer, Professor Tsie poked holes on the many fronts of the country’s picture perfect façade outing it as a smokescreen concealing an increasingly dysfunctional government. He signalled to Botswana’s position as the fourth largest unequal society in the world trailing industrialising and developing BRICs economies with millions of people in population despite Botswana having a small population of just over 2 million.

Tsie also alluded to the country’s failed economic diversification drive which he contends should have long been executed when the country was still experiencing unfettered steady economic growth. He further argued the economy’s continuous hinge on minerals and mineral extraction leaves the country riskily liable to global economic unrest as circumstanced by the 2008 economic recession.

The UB Don further brought the forgotten debate of old to the fore, questioning and probing Setswana’s quasi-arbitral elevation to status of national language over other languages in a republic state, continuing to state that cultural minorities in the country are not fully recognised.

Tsie lampooned the Parliament of Botswana as a weak oversight institution, “There is a serious democratic deficit in parliament of Botswana and it is very weak, in fact far weaker than the Independent Electoral Commission.”

This, he attributed to the principle of collective responsibility as government ministers and assistant ministers are drawn from the executive wing of state concluding that for that reason parliament of Botswana finds itself not mirroring the plight and prospects of the nation.

Tsie also poured scorn on the constitutionally engrained selection of Specially Elected Members of Parliament and nominated councillors as undemocratic as it bears the hallmarks and trappings of political patronisation.

For his part, BOFEPUSU boss, Johannes Tshukudu held the viewpoint of Botswana as a regressing nation; positing that the country has a populace not well conversant with political education. He said the educated city and town dwellers represent a tiny fraction of the country’s educated and politically conscious section, a prospect he is convinced spells doom for participatory democracy and progression.

Tshukudu also observed that there is a thick air of intolerance hung in the corridors of state power as responses to national issues by the country’s political leadership is often met with fiery personalised retorts. He went on to say that while the country’s civic society lacks political consciousness, its Non-Governmental Organisations are also hamstrung by their monetary links to government thus failing to accurately execute their roles of providing oversight duty to government.

Private media journalist and columnist Spencer Mogapi attributed the country’s dwindling fortunes to being lost in the nostalgia of the national success of yester years, describing it as being “hostages of our own history.”

Mogapi who chided Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s perceived ignorance on the latest national unemployment figures said that it becomes hard for Batswana to embrace and assist the BDP in developing the nation while the popularised Ntuane reforms are aimed at saving the party and not the country.

He also ridiculed the government for glorifying poverty by shelling handouts when it could have long cut poverty when the country was experiencing unfettered economic growth adding that it is difficult to see the results of the P500 million pumped into poverty eradication.