We want to believe that when they first drafted the document, foremost in their minds was to protect the nascent nation from all manner of ills and to ensure its prosperity in the comity of nations because it was formulated when there was instability across the African continent. There were apartheid regimes in neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe, Namibia was under colonial rule, Zambia had just gained its independence while Botswana itself was reeling from the effects of colonisation. Only a few of its citizens had had the opportunity to acquire some education and the skills to run a country. However, the nation has matured, and there are more than enough Batswana who are sufficiently educated to handle any crisis, if they were given the opportunity. However, the document that created the republic is inherently flawed and needs re-visiting. To those opposed to this, we ask you to look again because there is no way you can miss the glaring defects of the document or dodge the conclusion that it invalidates what its purpose should have been. We are particularly averse to Section 41 that gives president absolute immunity from prosecution or any civil litigation while in office. As though that was no opprobrious enough, we learn that only the President can call an emergency meeting of Parliament. Our constitution places even the Speaker of the National Assembly and the people's elected representatives under the feet of only one person, making it nearly impossible to make a democratic move against him regardless of how problematic he may be. This is a flaw in the extreme and assaults the notion of the people as the basis of power in a democracy by nullifiying their exercise of that power through their elected representatives. Our constitution only empowers the Speaker to call an emergency meeting of Parliament when the President has died, resigned or is otherwise incapacitated. What if the President sees no crisis in what is currently taking place in the country, for instance? What if he uses the office to protect the interests of his family and close friends who benefit from multi-billion pula projects? And after 46 years, there is no instrument - in our basic law or statute - by which the people can stop the rot? Not surprisingly, President Ian Khama has vehemently defended the status quo because he profits mightily by it. He can do as he pleases because he can take refuge in its glaring imperfections by means of which he is beyond reproach. Very clearly, a review of the document and the total overhaul of some of its provisions have long been overdue. Quite simply Bagaetsho, we keep the outdated document at our own peril.
Today's thought
