DIS, DCEC turf wars irk civil society
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday June 13, 2022 06:00
Due to the situation, the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) and various Non-Government Organisations have since called for restoration of the rule of law. In the unfolding war, early this month, the Office of the President released a statement “to inform members of the public that Tymon Katlholo, the director-general of DCEC has been suspended from duty in accordance with Section 112 of the Constitution with immediate effect.” It further stated that, “the decision to suspend Katlholo is necessitated by the fact that in the course of his official duties, he has misconducted himself and exhibited behaviour that is incompatible with the conduct of a public officer.” The decision to suspend Katlholo came less than 24 hours after he appeared before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where he reported that his office was investigating over P600 million lost from government coffers in the past 11 months. A collective of 12 civil society organisations such as labour federations have also expressed discomfort at the turn out of events and demand answers.
These include the Botswana Centre for Public Integrity (BCPI), the Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), the Botswana Federation of Public Private & Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSO), Bridging the Gap, DITSHWANELO, Emang Basadi, Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LeGaBiBo), the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Putting Women First Trust (PWFT), Rainbow Identity Association (RIA), The Botswana Networks on Ethics Law and HIV (BONELA) and the LSB. “When it was established in 1994, the DCEC was mandated, amongst other objectives, to: promote ethical behaviour in government and public organisations as well as to maintain good governance, transparency and the rule of law.
We call upon the President of Botswana to take necessary measures to ensure that these matters are handled in accordance with the principles of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, with honesty and integrity in order to enable accountability, transparency and fairness in the proper management of public affairs and public property, by the Office of the President,” reads the statement.
The civil society organisations further called upon the government to ensure that there is good governance and accountability in the country. “Corruption violates human rights, can breed a disregard for human rights and can threaten the right to life, liberty and security of persons through arbitrary arrests and detentions of witnesses, whistle blowers or officials exercising their duties to prevent corrupt practices. We also call for the true independence of oversight bodies from the Office of the President, as this will ensure transparency and fairness.
The procedures for appointing members of independent and oversight bodies should be established to ensure that these bodies operate independently and impartially from all manner of interference, be it political or otherwise. The civil society called for governance and oversight bodies to be strengthened by ensuring their operational independence and protection.
These bodies should be accountable to Parliament and Parliament, in turn, should become a watchdog of the executive,” they stated. The LSB holds that the recent judgement by Justice Reuben Lekorwe “highlights a sharp controversy of a turf fight between the organs of state, which should otherwise be cooperating. The tension between the two has, by the look of things, have been simmering for some times and has now matured into complicated dispute that has since broken into the public domain.” LSB states that they are concerned at the inexcusable ineptitude to discharge statutory mandate, the level of acrimony and lack of trust of such a magnitude between the DCEC and the DIS, and even within top management of the DCEC itself.
They state that it is inimical to the proper functioning of constitutional democracy, which is anchored on the rule of law and is also a threat to national security. While awaiting the determination of the main dispute in the ensuing review proceedings, the society urges the DCEC and the DIS to carry out their respective mandates without one encroaching on the statutory responsibilities of the other and forge a harmonious working relationship.
The society demands that the judiciary be allowed its time and space to effectively execute its mandate for a due and proper resolution of the matter. In this regard, the society does not expect that the recent suspension of Katlholo from the DCEC and or termination of the mandate of his chosen attorneys, Monthe Marumo & Co, was intended nor will it have the effect of circumventing the full ventilation and resolution of this matter before the courts of law,” reads a statement by Council of the LSB.