Democracy has presented a great definitional challenge to writers on the subject, leaving it open to numerous interpretations that have given many including less than democratic regimes an opportunity to claim to be democratic. In this piece, an effort will be made to appraise the state of Democracy in Botswana highlighting the similarities between Democracy and Christianity in an effort to illustrate how perceptions are key to the success of the democratic project. This is informed by a trend, particularly in official pronouncements and speeches in Botswana, where both senior government officials and their political superintendents repeatedly cite the numerous accolades that Botswana has been awarded for good governance, transparency, low corruption levels and record economic growth. Positive and welcome as this may be, it presents a problem on two fronts a) It creates a sense that all is well in the country b) Which results in a culture of complacency especially in other spheres of the body politic. Ultimately lacunas emerge which accumulate and burst, culminating in anger, social exclusion, contempt, apathy and the emergence of unpatriotic sentiments.
Considering Christianity and Democracy
There should be general agreement that all Christians as a rule, abide by certain universal values as enshrined in the bible despite their numerous denominations. The biblical 10 Commandments and other teachings which all Christians are expected to conform to regardless of whether you are Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, African traditional, etc are a case in point. These values give all Christians the world over, an innate character, identity and order which is self evident and uncontroversial. Put differently, upon identifying myself as a Christian, there are certain activities, utterances, virtues and actions which are expected of me by virtue of being a Chrisitan.
