Is media in Botswana a threat to national security?

As I write this, three Al Jazeera English journalists are lingering in a lonely jail cell in Egypt awaiting to hear their fate. Amongst them is a man I have had the pleasure to know and work with and can safely call a friend, Peter Greste.

The post-coup Egyptian regime has been detaining them for over two months on charges of spreading false news and belonging to a “terrorist group.” Despite international pressure from the European Union, Whitehouse, civic and human-rights groups, and other media houses calling for their unconditional release, the Egyptian government has remained defiant. We are yet to see if these allegations are anything substantial or just a fabrication by the Egyptian security services to deny Muslim Brotherhood- now designated a “terrorist group”- an equal opportunity to air their side of the story.

Just a couple of months before this, the UK Guardian was given an instruction by the British government to destroy its computer hard drives that had any intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden. The reasons advanced for this order was that the leaked documents could easily enable state adversaries including terrorist groups to effectively compromise Britain’s national security. Whatever side of the fence you are seated, the reasons advanced were quite convincing and understandable, but the question is, when does reporting on defence and security matters constitute a national security threat?  These two examples continue to demonstrate the blurry line between national security and the right of the people to know that journalists have to navigate daily in their course of duty and the harsh realities that come with perceived “stepping-over the line.”

I take it that if we are to ask Director General of Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DIS) Mr. Isaac Kgosi to give his frank opinion of the media in Botswana, particularly the print, there is a likelihood that we will get unpleasant obscenities as the answer. Whether you agree or disagree with his crude approach to public relations, you have to concede to the fact that his office (DIS) has never had rest from relentless media attack and sometimes unfair scrutiny. On average, there is hardly a week that passes without either Isaac Kgosi or DIS being in the headlines. This has obviously had an adverse effect on public perception of the DIS including loss of confidence and public trust.

Recent media revelations of Isaac Kgosi’s personal fortunes and the DIS’s operational capability, including their questionable procurement practices have once again opened the debate between national security and press freedom.

Since the antiquity of reading and writing, the use of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) especially print media, has been one of the most common and preferred intelligence gathering method. It is equally an important tool for counter-intelligence operations. It is therefore, obvious that whatever publicly available information is there about either Isaac Kgosi or the DIS will catch the attention of both friendly and hostile intelligence services operating inside or outside our borders. This information can then be used by hostile nations both to frustrate our political and economic initiatives both regionally and internationally, sabotage our national plans or just go on to launch an attack against our national security assets. Though this sounds too distant, it is a daily reality for a defence and security operative.

On the other hand, a reputable democracy calls for an open, accountable and transparent government. In order to achieve all these, democracy calls for an unqualified active role of an open and free media to exercise and promote freedom of expression.

On paper, the media ought to exercise this socially awarded right being guided by the principle of public interest. As to whether this has always been the case in Botswana is a question for another day. But what is unquestionable is that the media serves as a watchdog of the people over their government. They have the right to hold government accountable where they believe something is amiss, either tax-payers’ money has been misused or corruption has taken place. If they cannot inform the tax-payers which in this case is the public, they would have violated their professional conduct and could lose public trust. Since tax-payers’ money is distributed to all government departments without bias, it would therefore go without question that no department no matter how special it is should be exempted from accountability and transparency. Whether this exposes DIS or BDF, the bottom line is that the taxpayers have the right to know how their money was used and in a democracy, this is not a qualified right, it is absolute.

Therefore, since there are no parameters and I sincerely do not believe there can be, it is upon both defence and security services and the media to act according to their highest professional standards. The defence and security services ought to carry out their operations and procurement processes bearing in mind that they are using public funds, which they have to account for. On the other hand, the media ought to gather facts and present a balanced story where both sides of the story are presented. I must however caution that there is a general tendency among security establishment in Botswana not to participate fully on pertinent issues relating to them. This behaviour continues to see their side of the story either grossly misrepresented or exaggerated. A healthy security-media relationship is necessary to enhance, protect and project our national security interests.