Botswana is a failed state characterised by state capture, particularly by those who sponsored the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to win in past elections, leading to a situation where the state serves the interests of the few, especially friends and relatives.
The words were uttered by the president of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dumelang Saleshando at the party’s annual conference in Tutume last weekend. Saleshando went on to appeal to his party to know that, whatever resolutions the party makes at the end of the conference, those resolutions or decisions will have to respond to the urgent question of working towards the seizure of power in 2024 and not later.
“As BCP, we are ready to lead. We are ready to govern, and we plead with our people to deploy us,” appealed the party president.
According to him, one of the things that are an indication of the BDP failure, is the recently amended constitution. “We need a transformative People’s constitution now. Botswana has a constitution that is very old. This constitution was drafted without the input of the people. It was a colonial imposition. One of the weaknesses of the current constitution is its constrained recognition of human rights. The constitution recognizes only civil and political rights but not socio, economic and environmental rights,” complained the BCP president.
“Perhaps one of its major weaknesses is over- concentration of power in the Presidency. The constitution does not have developed institutions that support democracy. Both the Anti-Corruption Body and the Office of Ombudsperson are firmly under the control of the President,’’ observed the BCP leader.
Saleshando added that the same applies to "the so called Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)." He is also not happy with the Constitutional Review Commission established to oversee a constitutional review process. “The Commission and the process were established at neck-breaking speed. Everything was an imposition as the people were not consulted on anything. BDP loyalists run the whole phony activity and wasted taxpayers’ money,” lamented Saleshando.
In his view, the process has no semblance of legitimacy and resulted in an illegitimate and incoherent document. “The BCP rejected it then as a fraud. We reiterate our position today. We are committed, when we come to power we will initiate a credible people-driven and people-controlled constitutional review process,” stated Saleshando.
In his view, some of the things that indicate the sorry state of Botswana as a failed state is the state of the economy. Economically, Botswana is on its knees: The BDP government has grossly underperformed on the economic front. In spite of the God-given wealth in natural resources such as minerals, fauna and flora, the citizens remain excluded from the economy.
“For instance, the country is the second largest producer of diamond in the world, yet the people remain poor. Botswana is among the most unequal countries in the world, based on a gini-coefficient score of 0.6, demonstrating a large gap between the rich and poor people. Youth and rural populations remain disproportionately affected,” he lectured, adding that the narrow economic planning has resulted in jobless economic growth.
According to him, unemployment remains high at over 26 percent and is much higher for the youth. “This is partly explained by failure to diversify the economy, create value chain in the economy including beneficiation. This has not been helped by other challenges such as regulatory constraints in a number of sectors, excessive red tapes relating to licenses and permits and limited access to finance,” observed the BCP president.
The economic growth, Saleshando said, is also undermined by failure to invest in human capital. “The World Bank estimates that a child born in Botswana today will be 41 percent as productive when he or she grows up as he or she could be if he or she enjoyed complete education and full health. This is much lower than most upper middle- income countries. Productivity is therefore grossly undermined,” explained Saleshando.
In Saleshando’s view, the country’s economic situation would be much better if from day one, Botswana had negotiated the best deal for the country with De Beers. “Only now, out of the blue without any shame at all, BDP, panic-stricken that it is losing elections is shifting ground, and in a populist shift, electioneering around diamonds, when they are the ones who signed all the bad deals they complain of now. In their shameful attempt to win at all costs, taking us for fools, they gratuitously hurl insults at their investment partner for many years and in the process scaring other potential investors who may want to invest here,” noted the BCP leader.
According to him, one of the defining features of Botswana's economy is that capital is over- concentrated in a few hands; those who have captured the BDP and their cronies. The majority of the people are, in his view, not capitalized to thrive. “We need to decentralize capital to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship that is there amongst our people because that will create jobs in sufficient numbers to improve the lives of our people,” he said.
Saleshando further said that the BCP is acutely aware that managing an economy is not an easy task. However, according to him, the people sincerely believe that with a population of about 2.4 million, and an abundance of resources, had it not been for the greed and corruption of the ruling party, Botswana would have first class hospitals with the best doctors and other health professionals and there would be no shortage of medicines.
“Had it not been for the BDP corruption, we would have the best education system that guarantees jobs and had it not been for their shameless corruption our children would not be roaming the streets unemployed even with university degrees. Corruption, nepotism and patronage that now define the BDP, are a cancerous disease,” observed the BCP leader, who believes that corruption is theft.
“It steals textbooks from schools, drugs from hospitals. It steals jobs. It robs citizens of hope and destroys dreams. Our party in Parliament has an unrivalled record of exposing corruption in government. We are the only party, together with our alliance partners that can declare war on corruption,” boasted the well-spoken Saleshando.
“Comrades let's not mince words. The dividing line between the BDP and a criminal syndicate is becoming harder and harder to detect. The BCP will turn around the economy by bringing all diamond and mineral related jobs back home,” said Saleshando, who observed that the failure of the economy is confirmed by a narrow-based economy highly dependent on the export of primary goods such as diamonds and copper/nickel, failure to establish and sustain tertiary production (processing and manufacturing) to create jobs, limited citizen participation and ownership of the means of production; and, lastly, poorly skilled citizens due to the poor education system.
The words were uttered by the president of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Dumelang Saleshando at the party’s annual conference in Tutume last weekend. Saleshando went on to appeal to his party to know that, whatever resolutions the party makes at the end of the conference, those resolutions or decisions will have to respond to the urgent question of working towards the seizure of power in 2024 and not later.
“As BCP, we are ready to lead. We are ready to govern, and we plead with our people to deploy us,” appealed the party president.
According to him, one of the things that are an indication of the BDP failure, is the recently amended constitution. “We need a transformative People’s constitution now. Botswana has a constitution that is very old. This constitution was drafted without the input of the people. It was a colonial imposition. One of the weaknesses of the current constitution is its constrained recognition of human rights. The constitution recognizes only civil and political rights but not socio, economic and environmental rights,” complained the BCP president.
“Perhaps one of its major weaknesses is over- concentration of power in the Presidency. The constitution does not have developed institutions that support democracy. Both the Anti-Corruption Body and the Office of Ombudsperson are firmly under the control of the President,’’ observed the BCP leader.
Saleshando added that the same applies to "the so called Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)." He is also not happy with the Constitutional Review Commission established to oversee a constitutional review process. “The Commission and the process were established at neck-breaking speed. Everything was an imposition as the people were not consulted on anything. BDP loyalists run the whole phony activity and wasted taxpayers’ money,” lamented Saleshando.
In his view, the process has no semblance of legitimacy and resulted in an illegitimate and incoherent document. “The BCP rejected it then as a fraud. We reiterate our position today. We are committed, when we come to power we will initiate a credible people-driven and people-controlled constitutional review process,” stated Saleshando.
In his view, some of the things that indicate the sorry state of Botswana as a failed state is the state of the economy. Economically, Botswana is on its knees: The BDP government has grossly underperformed on the economic front. In spite of the God-given wealth in natural resources such as minerals, fauna and flora, the citizens remain excluded from the economy.
“For instance, the country is the second largest producer of diamond in the world, yet the people remain poor. Botswana is among the most unequal countries in the world, based on a gini-coefficient score of 0.6, demonstrating a large gap between the rich and poor people. Youth and rural populations remain disproportionately affected,” he lectured, adding that the narrow economic planning has resulted in jobless economic growth.
According to him, unemployment remains high at over 26 percent and is much higher for the youth. “This is partly explained by failure to diversify the economy, create value chain in the economy including beneficiation. This has not been helped by other challenges such as regulatory constraints in a number of sectors, excessive red tapes relating to licenses and permits and limited access to finance,” observed the BCP president.
The economic growth, Saleshando said, is also undermined by failure to invest in human capital. “The World Bank estimates that a child born in Botswana today will be 41 percent as productive when he or she grows up as he or she could be if he or she enjoyed complete education and full health. This is much lower than most upper middle- income countries. Productivity is therefore grossly undermined,” explained Saleshando.
In Saleshando’s view, the country’s economic situation would be much better if from day one, Botswana had negotiated the best deal for the country with De Beers. “Only now, out of the blue without any shame at all, BDP, panic-stricken that it is losing elections is shifting ground, and in a populist shift, electioneering around diamonds, when they are the ones who signed all the bad deals they complain of now. In their shameful attempt to win at all costs, taking us for fools, they gratuitously hurl insults at their investment partner for many years and in the process scaring other potential investors who may want to invest here,” noted the BCP leader.
According to him, one of the defining features of Botswana's economy is that capital is over- concentrated in a few hands; those who have captured the BDP and their cronies. The majority of the people are, in his view, not capitalized to thrive. “We need to decentralize capital to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship that is there amongst our people because that will create jobs in sufficient numbers to improve the lives of our people,” he said.
Saleshando further said that the BCP is acutely aware that managing an economy is not an easy task. However, according to him, the people sincerely believe that with a population of about 2.4 million, and an abundance of resources, had it not been for the greed and corruption of the ruling party, Botswana would have first class hospitals with the best doctors and other health professionals and there would be no shortage of medicines.
“Had it not been for the BDP corruption, we would have the best education system that guarantees jobs and had it not been for their shameless corruption our children would not be roaming the streets unemployed even with university degrees. Corruption, nepotism and patronage that now define the BDP, are a cancerous disease,” observed the BCP leader, who believes that corruption is theft.
“It steals textbooks from schools, drugs from hospitals. It steals jobs. It robs citizens of hope and destroys dreams. Our party in Parliament has an unrivalled record of exposing corruption in government. We are the only party, together with our alliance partners that can declare war on corruption,” boasted the well-spoken Saleshando.
“Comrades let's not mince words. The dividing line between the BDP and a criminal syndicate is becoming harder and harder to detect. The BCP will turn around the economy by bringing all diamond and mineral related jobs back home,” said Saleshando, who observed that the failure of the economy is confirmed by a narrow-based economy highly dependent on the export of primary goods such as diamonds and copper/nickel, failure to establish and sustain tertiary production (processing and manufacturing) to create jobs, limited citizen participation and ownership of the means of production; and, lastly, poorly skilled citizens due to the poor education system.
