Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President Dumelang Saleshando says corruption has become entrenched in Botswana.
He said President Mokgweetsi Masisi has effectively killed the Directorate for Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) by dismissing successive Directors over a whim after they served for a short period of time.
He said the current Director of the DCEC has been suspended from duty, his crime was to investigate corruption perpetuated by the DISS.
Saleshando, who is also Member of Parliament for Maun West stated that the nation has been losing millions of pula and continues to lose more funds for which “we have to pay heavily as the funds are stolen and deny Batswana their right to functional public institutions such as health facilities.”
He said not only is the country’s economy under threat, so is the democracy. Saleshando told Parliament when responding to the State of the Nation Address that there is a crisis in the Judiciary, the last line of defence.
“The Chief Justice has been accused of “Forum Shopping”. A judge of the high court has disclosed how Minister Morwaeng sought to influence the judgement of the court in a case that involved a Member of Parliament, arguing that an unfavourable verdict would embarrass the President.
“A member of Ntlo ya Dikgosi has come out to disclose how President Masisi disclosed a plan to pre-determine the outcome of a case before the courts of law,” Saleshando said.
According to Saleshando, the eyes of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) are now focused on tampering with the electoral system to introduce the Electoral Voting Machines (EVM) as they tried in 2019 only to be stopped by the BCP through the courts.
EVMs, he said, are discredited the world over as they can be manipulated to achieve a certain result and not reflect the decision and the will of the people.
“How do we emerge from the crossroads? We all need to desperately rise from the current impasse and chart a route to a Botswana we want, a Botswana we want to bequeath to our children, a Botswana we can all be proud of.
“The road to a new Botswana that guarantees both economic prosperity and democracy should start with a new constitution. All the main political parties agreed on the need to review the constitution in the run up to the 2019 general election.
“The national consensus around the constitution has been ruined by the BDP 'go it alone attitude.' Major assignments require maximum political inclusion so as to march forward in unison,” Saleshando said adding that the all-party conference should have been convened to agree on the way forward.
He explained that other organs of civic society such as trade unions and churches should also have been consulted.
Constitutional review is a once in a life time exercise, it’s important to get the buy-in of all interested players to avoid having to repeat the same exercise in the near future, the MP said.
He maintained that the starting point for the review of the constitution should have been for citizens to be educated on their constitution. The BCP leader indicated that the reality is that a majority of Batswana have never read the constitution let alone seen the document.
“Summarised popular versions of the constitution should have been availed to Batswana to learn about their constitution. To expect the nation to evaluate a document that they have never read nor seen but just heard of was a travesty. The entire process of reviewing the constitution should have been explained to the nation.”
Saleshando told Parliament that as things stand, none of the MPs in the house can explain what the next steps will be after the release of the report on the Commission of Enquiry into the constitution.
“We insist that there is need for Parliament to prepare the ground for the review of the constitution and not sit back based on the assurance that we will pass the final document,” he added.
According to Saleshando, as the opposition, they have their own demands on critical reforms that should be accommodated in the final constitution.
He said President Mokgweetsi Masisi has effectively killed the Directorate for Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) by dismissing successive Directors over a whim after they served for a short period of time.
He said the current Director of the DCEC has been suspended from duty, his crime was to investigate corruption perpetuated by the DISS.
Saleshando, who is also Member of Parliament for Maun West stated that the nation has been losing millions of pula and continues to lose more funds for which “we have to pay heavily as the funds are stolen and deny Batswana their right to functional public institutions such as health facilities.”
He said not only is the country’s economy under threat, so is the democracy. Saleshando told Parliament when responding to the State of the Nation Address that there is a crisis in the Judiciary, the last line of defence.
“The Chief Justice has been accused of “Forum Shopping”. A judge of the high court has disclosed how Minister Morwaeng sought to influence the judgement of the court in a case that involved a Member of Parliament, arguing that an unfavourable verdict would embarrass the President.
“A member of Ntlo ya Dikgosi has come out to disclose how President Masisi disclosed a plan to pre-determine the outcome of a case before the courts of law,” Saleshando said.
According to Saleshando, the eyes of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) are now focused on tampering with the electoral system to introduce the Electoral Voting Machines (EVM) as they tried in 2019 only to be stopped by the BCP through the courts.
EVMs, he said, are discredited the world over as they can be manipulated to achieve a certain result and not reflect the decision and the will of the people.
“How do we emerge from the crossroads? We all need to desperately rise from the current impasse and chart a route to a Botswana we want, a Botswana we want to bequeath to our children, a Botswana we can all be proud of.
“The road to a new Botswana that guarantees both economic prosperity and democracy should start with a new constitution. All the main political parties agreed on the need to review the constitution in the run up to the 2019 general election.
“The national consensus around the constitution has been ruined by the BDP 'go it alone attitude.' Major assignments require maximum political inclusion so as to march forward in unison,” Saleshando said adding that the all-party conference should have been convened to agree on the way forward.
He explained that other organs of civic society such as trade unions and churches should also have been consulted.
Constitutional review is a once in a life time exercise, it’s important to get the buy-in of all interested players to avoid having to repeat the same exercise in the near future, the MP said.
He maintained that the starting point for the review of the constitution should have been for citizens to be educated on their constitution. The BCP leader indicated that the reality is that a majority of Batswana have never read the constitution let alone seen the document.
“Summarised popular versions of the constitution should have been availed to Batswana to learn about their constitution. To expect the nation to evaluate a document that they have never read nor seen but just heard of was a travesty. The entire process of reviewing the constitution should have been explained to the nation.”
Saleshando told Parliament that as things stand, none of the MPs in the house can explain what the next steps will be after the release of the report on the Commission of Enquiry into the constitution.
“We insist that there is need for Parliament to prepare the ground for the review of the constitution and not sit back based on the assurance that we will pass the final document,” he added.
According to Saleshando, as the opposition, they have their own demands on critical reforms that should be accommodated in the final constitution.
