27 Mar 2019

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi March 27 met with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) regional director for Africa and West Asia Prof Adebayo Olukoshi.

Prof Olukoshi paid a courtesy  call on the President as Botswana is a member of the institute. 

He said the visit gave him an opportunity to share with Dr Masisi the role of the institute in Africa and some of its work in Botswana with key institutions such as the Independent Electoral Commission

With just a few months before the general elections, Prof Olukoshi said Botswana was on the right track in terms of its democratic experiences. 

Democracies, he said,  were enriched and got stronger and consolidated themselves when the many voices were able to bloom. 

He also said internal party competition and the general opening of the political space to citizens’ voices could only be healthy for the country.

Prof Olukoshi said Africa should be commended because African countries had routinised elections to a point where it was now inconceivable for anybody not elected at general elections to claim to lead any country. 

He said although they could disagree on the quality of elections or democracy but concurred the basic principle of exercising power was on the basis of a ballot.

He said Africa had come a long way and the shortcomings of electoral processes had been scaled down. 

He said there had been handing over of power in some countries while others had seen opposition parties taking power from hitherto dominant ruling parties. 

This, he said, signified the possibility of renewing the political process and administration in Africa as a whole.

Prof Olukoshi said he was impressed by the increase of women representation and their participation in leadership roles in the political space in Africa, saying it was an area of continuous progress on the continent. 

In some African countries such as Rwanda, South Africa and Namibia there was greater awareness of democracy as well as promoting the role of women and younger people in that space.

Although a lot had to be done in attaining successful democracy, Prof Olukoshi said every democratic country had to consistently and continuously invest in renewing its democratic institutions in order to ensure that citizens enjoyed the maximum benefits of freedom and development.

IDEA is an inter-governmental organisation working to support and strengthen democratic institutions and processes around the world as well as to develop sustainable, effective and legitimate democracies. 

Botswana is one of nine African countries that are members of the institute and has been a member since its establishment  in 1995. ENDS