Keorapetse takes Masisi to task
Staff Writer | Friday November 16, 2018 13:31
Contributing to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) Keorapetse said the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had hoped that Masisi would announce the formulation of an Anti-Corruption Policy, comprehensive anti-graft law reform, reinvigoration of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to resource it, make it more independent and to give it sharp teeth.
“We thought the President will express his concerns over the non-prosecution of high profile individuals for corruption, which occurred in the past few years at Botswana Development Corporation (BDC), Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), Botswana Railways (BR) and the notorious Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) to mention but a few.
We are therefore worried that corruption, fiscal and revenue crimes, mismanagement, non-accountability and clandestineness will most likely continue to thrive under this President,” Keorapetse said.
He said they have also noted that some senior officials who are implicated in corruption remain in their jobs and are free to plunder even further.
“The President hasn’t cleared the air on allegations that he has benefited from both the National Petroleum Fund and Pension Fund dubious dealing of fraud and chicanery.
“He hasn’t said a thing about rumours of properties being bought for him and some directors of some companies setting up a business for him and running it.
“We need to know the truth about these matters. We need to know how if his ‘Camp Dubai’ was financed through the taxpayers’ money.”
He said the President neither has intentions to make Parliament and the Judicature more independent, nor amplify their integrity and build the much-lost public confidence in these institutions.
“He has in fact failed the litmus test when appointing the Chief Justice (CJ). Advocate Duma Boko had challenged him to rise to the occasion and show leadership in the appointment of the CJ. However, the President, using his lawful powers, appointed a relatively junior and less qualified judge to the position of CJ.
“Some Batswana and the media have raised concerns about President Masisi’s appointments, which they contend are biased and or skewed in favour of Kanye, Moshupa and Manyana and other areas in the South of the country. The President should listen to these cries and address them before they cause unnecessary divisions.”
He explained that periodic Afrobarometer surveys show that Batswana’s trust in many public institutions including the Presidency has worryingly plummetted.
The President did not say how he would lead a restoration of trust in these institutions.
He stated that oversight institutions such as the, “Independent Electoral Commission, Ombudsman, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Auditor General and other institutions, which should support democracy, it would seem, will remain extensions of the Executive with no real power, independence and resources under President Masisi”.
“Yes, the media will be enticed in all sorts of ways, some in the media will be co-opted as it has already began, but draconian and other media unfriendly laws will remain. Advertising by government in private media will be skewed in favour of some media houses in a divide-and-rule kind of way.”