STATE OF EMERGENCY MY FAULT SAYS BOTSWANA PRESIDENT

by Hugh McCullum

Botswana, a huge but lightly populated southern African nation, has always done things its own way and the recent state of emergency was no exception. The continent's and region's oldest multi-party democracy has been an oasis of peace and stability for more than three decades since its independence in 1966.

Yet on 6 September Botswana's ultra modern National Assembly was packed as legislators met to deal with a legal fiasco which forced President Festus Mogae to declare a state of emergency four days earlier so that he could recall an already dissolved Parliament to pass amendments to the Electoral Act which would allow 67,000 disenfranchised voters to cast their ballots on 16 October in the country's seventh general election to elect 40 MPs.

And, furthermore the president took all the blame in a statesmanlike fashion although there was plenty of evidence to show that senior electoral and legal officials had been, to put the best face on it, sparse with advice to the embarrassed president and ruling party.

"I take the blame," Mogae told a press conference when he lifted the six-day emergency, "and I am not saying anyone misled me. Maybe they could have been more generous with their information, drawing to my attention the consequences of my decision (to issue the election writ for Oct. 16). Then I might have acted other wise."

Botswana's first and only state of emergency was declared when there was no threat to the nation or its 1.4 million people. No one arriving at the airport would have noticed, most citizens were either unaware of it, or let it pass without comment. There were no armed soldiers or police patrolling the streets and the meeting of the National Assembly was an occasion for a little good-humoured lambasting of the government as would be the case in any election campaign.

The whole thing began when Mogae, as is his right and responsibility, called for the election, using the traditional time-period for all Botswana elections -- mid-October - and dissolved the Assembly. Voters settled down to a quiet campaign certain the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) would coast to another substantial majority.

What Mogae didn't know when he dropped the writ was that 7,000 people had registered to vote in May and another 60,000 who registered during supplementary registration before 31 July whose names could not be certified by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Once the writ has been issued, by law no further work can be done on the electoral rolls.

The president issued the writ and dissolved parliament on August 24 without knowing about the 67,000 people who would be potentially disenfranchised although he admits he knew about the provision in the law preventing the IEC from proceeding further with finalizing the voters' roll.

"I say that, having been supervisor of elections myself 15 years ago. I knew about that provision, but when we did this thing I forgot all about it. If I had remembered, this sad and grave chapter in the history of Botswana would not have occurred."

It seems the secretary of the IEC, Gabriel Seeletso and the Botswana' chief law officer Attorney General Phandu Skelemanai were unaware of the legal ramifications as well, although some analysts say both advised cabinet that nothing could be done about the 67,000 lost voters. They couldn't vote. Clearly this advice was unacceptable to Mogae, the election candidates and the voters.

Analyst Titus Mbuya says that while it may not have occurred to the president, IEC or attorney general that the completion date of the work of the IEC was inconsistent with holding elections in mid-October, that is no excuse.

"It did not have to occur to them, they should have known. If there had been proper discussion and consultation between the Office of the President, the Attorney-General and the IEC, this disaster would not have happened. The state of emergency was the result of negligence on the part of all three.

"The chairman of the IEC is a judge, his deputy is a top-notch law professor. The IEC is headed by such people to ensure that there is strict adherence with the law. The attorney general also acted in a reprehensible way by not advising the president whether the roll was ready and certified, thereby embarrassing and humiliating him."

In the end, the electoral act was amended during one afternoon sitting of the special session of the National Assembly where the government was called careless, insensitive, incompetent and unfit by the 13-member opposition, itself badly split, 67,000 voters can cast ballots and Batswana can go about their daily business with little more than a few bruised political egos.

Mogae may have made a mistake but once it was evident, he acted briskly to amend it, taking the heat for his senior electoral officials. The opposition got a few licks in and have threatened to take the whole thing to the courts after 16 October should they lose, which they almost certainly will.

More likely, there will be a commission of inquiry following the national vote to see just who did fail to advise the president and why.

Botswana has a 44-seat National Assembly, 40 of whom are elected by constituencies and four of whom are elected by the Assembly. There is a 15-member House of Chiefs which advises on tribal matters. The president is an ex-officio member of the Assembly and chosen by the Assembly as leader of the winning party.

The BDP has held power comfortably since the first election until 1994 when the Botswana National Front (BNF) won 13 seats. The party has now split and the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) became the official opposition last year with nine seats. (SARDC)