Boko hunts for new deals in old ties

Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday November 18, 2025 08:39

Imagine your typical homestead any rural area. In front of the main entrance, without trying too hard, you can tell who the homeowners’ favourite neighbours are, by observing the most used dirt track. There may be some other tracks where grass has grown over and that have become indistinct through low usage over the years, but nonetheless the fact that they are there shows that there are neighbours somewhere in that direction too.

President Duma Boko appears to be following such paths.

In recent months, possibly as part of a pledge made earlier this year to attract $600 million in investment, Boko has unveiled a series of high-dollar value investment deals around various non-diamond mining sectors of the economy.

A few are herebelow:

August 2025 - A $12 billion arrangement with Al Mansour of Qatar covering energy, infrastructure development, mining, agriculture, defence, and cybersecurity

September 2025 - At least 36 tonnes of life-saving medical supplies comprising 85 critical and essential medicines from the United Arab Emirates

November 2025 - An energy deal for the next ten years with a consortium of investors, including Turkish and Singaporean groups, valued at between $3 billion and $5 billion

November 2025 – A deal with the Oman Investment Authority to finance a 500-megawatt solar and battery storage project. The Omanis are due in the country on November 26 to put pen to paper

There is a pattern clearly observable from the deals, essentially a shift from the traditional post-Independence investment partners such as the United States, the United Kingdom and other European Union states.

And yet, with the exception of Oman with which diplomatic ties were formalised last month, the others are old allies. Botswana first established diplomatic relations with Qatar in 2006, United Arab Emirates the same year while relations with Turkey go back as far as 1981.

India, whose president wrapped up a historic first visit to Botswana this week, first shook hands diplomatically with Botswana in 1972.

Putting up walls

The shift towards the regions such as the Persian Gulf, Turkey and others, comes as the West, particularly the US and the UK, signal a retreat from globalisation, the dominant global trade and economic philosophy of the 21st century.

In the United States, President Donald Trump is pursuing an aggressive America First policy that includes global tariffs and tougher immigration rules, while the UK, having exited from the European Union, is also beefing up its immigration laws amidst more frequent public protests against foreigners. The United Kingdom recently slapped a visa requirement on Botswana, noting rising numbers of asylum requests, many of which have been disproved by the courts there.

The US allowed the African Growth Opportunities Act to elapse in September, ending the 25-year trade pact with Africa. The Trump government’s trade engagement in Africa has mainly focussed on gaining more control of critical minerals which are essential in advanced technologies, electric vehicles, and renewable energy.

Boko’s presidency has found investors in the Persian Gulf and other areas more interested in the opportunities offered in Botswana. In October, Botswana participated for the first time in the Turkey-Africa Business and Economic Forum, which this year marked its fifth anniversary.

A month earlier, the country made its first appearance at the Intra-African Trade Fair, where officials hoped to secure some of the billions of dollars in deals made at the fourth edition of the event.

Boko’s apparent shift coincides with the refocussed attention these regions are placing on Africa, even as the West either pulls away or focuses more on its own domestic issues. India, China, the Persian Gulf region, Russia and other regions view Africa as the continent of future growth and Botswana, with investment-grade credit, decades of democratic credentials and policy predictability, stands out for its investment allure.

“Globalisation and deglobalisation often ebb and flow like tides on the beach,” an analyst told Mmegi on Thursday. “COVID-19 made a lot of countries look internally and reassess their engagements with the world. “Trump’s rise has always been about America First, but you can also see Far Right movements gaining more ground in Europe.”

Beyond the surface

The president’s travels and deals in the outside of the traditional allies has raised eyebrows locally, with many questioning the credentials and bona fides of the identified investors. The raft of deals, the pace at which they come and the lack of details on what each side is offering, have led to accusations and concerns against the President.

“These investors come in different types,” Bobirwa legislator, Taolo Lucas, asked Boko during a Parliamentary session last week. “Are there are processes to exclude chancers who come promising the heavens, and then we find there are no heavens. “Do we have a very clear process to vet these people?”

According to Boko, while due diligence is done, one way to avoid chancers is by engaging at a government to government level initially.

“Investors come and they say we want to work with you; they want to deploy up to $12 billion like the Al-Mansour Holdings. “Yes, we want people who can invest. Are you a credible investor and on our preliminary search, we find yes, you are. “Next, what are the terms? We will together identify projects that require funding. We will then do a feasibility assessment that determines the commercial viability of that project before we put money into it. “Having agreed that it is commercially viable, we will then look at the funding model, the financial model that you are presenting to us. We may reject it.”

According to Boko, the deals and billions of dollars announced require certain processes and protocols to enable the investment to be tapped into. The announcement of a $12 billion deal does not mean that the investor has transferred billions into Botswana ready to be drawn down.

“So you say you have $12 billion available to be invested in the country. “We welcome that investment, but there are certain processes and protocols that will enable this investment to be deployed. “It's your money. You want to invest it here and we welcome your investment. “We are ready. We have projects here that require funding, many of them viable commercially. “Can we assess them together and come to a determination and then move? “It doesn’t mean that money came in sacks and we are refusing to spend it,” he said.

Boko also cautioned that in some cases, partners sign deals as documents of intent and then have to go out and mobilise funding, something which local commentators may mistake for a lack of capacity.

“Even Elon Musk, you cannot find the trillions in his account that are spoken about,” the president said. “You may find $10, but he’s wealthy. And he's able, when it is required of him, to call a financial institution and say, I need this amount.”

Those who criticise Boko’s approach say the President, while being the country’s top diplomat, needed to select his appropriate role between chief executive officer and chief investment officer. In any case, he should take the investment leads through the structures where experts are qualified and well paid to soberly assess opportunities and weigh the sovereign risk.

Those who support the president, say the same questions would not be being asked if the deals were taking place in the US, the UK and the EU and involving Westerners. It’s a form of subconscious bias stemming from colonisation by a Western power, the president’s supporters say.

Boko, from his last statements, is unmoved by the debate.

“Our challenge, all of us, the burden we are carrying, is to look for funds for the country, in ways that do not overburden the country or that will make us get downgraded. “All the investors coming through, we do due diligence. Sometimes, we call in the DIS, to say assess them to see if they are legit. “They come with the information and they will deal with their sources including the MI6, CIA, whoever they want to talk to and they will bring a full dossier on the investor. “They then say this is what we have found; they are not making the decision for us, but just giving us information that enables us to process this.”

He told the parliamentarians: “As for all of us, we need to agree and try this road, raise this nation up and take it forward.”