Botswana a beacon of hope for democracy in Africa
The Secretary General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora has showered Botswana with praise for building a “solid record” in terms of allegiance to democratic values.
In an interview with the Botswana Guardian after he paid a courtesy call on the President of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, the IDEA boss said they discussed the opportunity to work with the nation of Botswana to support democracy.
Dr. Zamora revealed that he came out of the meeting with a sense of hope for the country of Botswana and hope for the future of democracy in Africa.
Dr. Zamora said there was an idea that was shared in the meeting about working with the government of Botswana along with SADC, to create a sub-regional event which will tackle key issues of how to stimulate the participation of young people in the political process.
He said this is a global issue of concern, particularly in Africa as they believe the demographic realities in the continent of Africa contain young people that are often disengaged from the political process.
Furthermore, Dr. Zamora said the world can learn a lot from Botswana on how to manage the natural wealth of a nation.
He said IDEA will continue to advocate for best practices when it comes to elections and enhance the participation of women and minorities in the democratic system, regulating the role of money in politics and contributing to capacity building efforts in the democratic space.
“I imagine that Batswana feel very proud of the very successful experiences of their country in terms of the democratic governance,” Dr. Zamora noted that Botswana has come a long way and has built a very successful democratic model.
He said that Botswana is an important member state of IDEA as it has been able to build a very solid record in terms of allegiance to democratic values a factor that is of enormous value to IDEA as democracy is in retreat in certain places around the globe.
Furthermore, Dr. Zamora said military coups cast a shadow over the future of democracy in Africa, therefore Botswana becomes the beacon of hope and it is his hope that Botswana keeps going and it must pay attention to the ability of democratic institutions to deliver on the wellbeing of the population.