Does Botswana need a standing army? (Part 1)
Friday, November 27, 2015
This raises the question of whether Botswana needs a standing army. I spend a good 20 years as an officer in Botswana’s military and for the number of years I spent there, I am completely convinced that Botswana does not need a standing army.
In Part 2, I will argue for the need for a standing army and for me that is being a devil’s advocate. In the following episodes subsequent to that, I will bring a discussion on how we could trim and equip a lean defence force. Botswana government took a decision to establish Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in 1976 and implemented through an act of parliament the following year.
For a fact, in a democratic society such as Botswana, the media plays a crucial role of being watchdog, holding the powerful to account and exposing all possible wrongdoing for the benefit of the public.There has been a nagging question about who watches the watchdog after all? Perhaps, the investigations into alleged wrongful acts implicating those supposed to be playing the watchdog role will shed more light into what has happened such that the...