CONSTITUTIONALISM IN BOTSWANA

Abstract

There is talk of constitutional reform, led by the incumbent President and the ruling party, in Botswana. This is to be celebrated considering that the resident and his party hold the sort of majority in parliament which would allow them to easily subvert the constitution if they chose. Importantly though, the approach to constitutional reform preferred by President and the ruling party centres on drafting a new constitution. Based on the fact that global experience with constitutional reform efforts, which have met with varied levels of success, have established that attaining constitutional reform fundamentally requires more than the turn to a new constitution, this paper argues that the key to attaining constitutional reform is securing a recommitment to constitutionalism. Following from this, the paper argues that rather than focusing on drafting a codified constitution in the Botswana context, which  would take long, if their goal is to secure constitutional reform, the incumbent President and the ruling party are better served by recommitting to constitutionalism in easily attainable ways that include changes to policy and legislation.