Empower Batswana to Recall a Corrupt Gov’t – Kgosi Mosadi

  • Wants corrupt sitting president to face the law
  • Calls for bogosi recognised as fourth arm of government
  • Wants oversight institutions freed from grip of OP

TEFO PHEAGE

In a wide-arching presentation, the paramount chief of BaLete, Kgosi Mosadi Seboko, has called for the introduction of a constitutional tool to enable betrayed electorates to recall a corrupt government and impeach delinquent leaders.

In her submissions to the Constitutional Review Commission this week, Kgosi Mosadi said Batswana need to tighten their constitution and introduce stiffer penalties to fight institutionalised corruption which has become cancerous.

“Let us have anti-graft constitutional tools and we must also enable people to recall or impeach a corrupt government and its leaders because it is because of corruption that our society finds itself in deplorable conditions of living,” the sovereign of BaLete said before linking corruption to high levels of inequality, rampant unemployment and social ills in Botswana.

She called for the law of presidential immunity from prosecution repealed, saying such laws lead to ruination of countries, including Botswana. “A fundamental tenet of modern constitutionalism is that nobody, regardless of his status in society, is above the law,” Kgosi Mosadi pressed on. “The corrupting influence of power and the need to limit it need to be tamed. Let the law treat all citizens and government officials from the highest to the lowest as creatures of the law, bound to obey and act in accordance with it. Selective clauses must fall.”

The constitution of Botswana attaches prosecutorial immunity to a sitting president.

Another great concern for the sovereign of BaLete is the independence of the Ombudsman to carry out its mandate effectively that she said can be realised if it is released from the grip of the OP. Kgosi Mosadi stressed the need for related oversight institutions to be appointed by Parliament and to it. She called for establishment of a constitutional court that should also owe its allegiance to Parliament.

As is done in neighbouring South Africa, Kgosi Mosadi said judicial officers subjected to public scrutiny and interviews after which the Judicial Services Commission should forward names of those it recommends for appointment to Parliament.

In another notable matter, recommendation, Kgosi Mosadi called for recognition of of the institution of bogosi as the fourth arm of government, saying re-empowering magosi could be the panacea to the many problems bedevilling the nation. She added that many problems prevalent in today’s Botswana did not exist before bogosi was emasculated.