In a report compiled by University of Botswana (UB) political scientist Dr Zibani Maundeni, BALA said that party manifestos makes the work of councillors difficult because they have to make general promises. The councillors talk about what the party will give the country when it is elected to office according to what the manifesto says. This approach is condemned for concerning itself with the control of national government and not with the local authority. This affects local democracy by marginalising local issues and eclipsing individual character under the image of the party.
BALA says that the main problems faced by the GCC and democracy at the local level in the city is defection, which does not provide for a re-election. The report synthesises the perceptions of leadership for local democracy in Gaborone. It was presented at the just ended conference organised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). The report condemned the system of floor-crossing by councillors, saying it renders them less accountable to their electorates and impacts negatively on local democracy. Defections are likely to cause voter apathy.
The report says that the quality of local democracy is too low because most councillors have very little formal education, which effectively prevents them from understanding budgetary issues. The GCC is said to have so far been unsuccessful in attracting educated people as councillors. Councillors on the other hand complain that educated elite and religious leaders hardly ever attend their meetings, and therefore nobody engages them on any serious discussion. BALA says that educated people are probably not interested in becoming councillors because the remuneration is too little or losing elections scares them.
Nevertheless, there is extreme apathy among the public because the majority of them do not attend meetings called by councillors. To circumvent this problem, the Rwandan Minister of State for Good Governance Protais Musoni advanced the opinion that there was public consensus in Rwanda that the best way to attract committed councillors is to utilise retired professionals and other experienced workers to volunteer. These volunteers would become councillors for no pay and on non-partisan basis. The result is that political opportunists and those seeking personal enrichment and aggrandizement out of public office, rather than serving the people would be weeded out.
Because there was little interaction between the public and civil society on one hand and local councillors, the city council is not responsive to the needs of city dwellers. There are also very few mechanisms through which city dwellers can present their complaints except at meetings addressed by the Minister.
The report takes strong exception to the status quo, saying the use of central government to register complaints and grievances against the council, damages rather than promotes local democracy. It compels councillors to be defensive and view residents as informers of central government rather than participants in the local democratic process.
