Botswana’s much-lauded economic boom was accompanied by a disproportionately powerful presidency, poverty, significant economic inequities, elite corruption and rising unemployment. Mokgweetsi Masisi succeeded Ian Khama as president of the long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2018. He won the 2019 election on a platform of constitutional reform and economic transformation, but the rift between Masisi and Khama appeared to dissuade Masisi from pursuing the much-touted constitutional reform. Masisi needed the ‘blank cheque constitution’ to deploy the state apparatus in his personal war of attrition with the fearsome Khama. During the Covid-19 outbreak, however, civil society put pressure on Masisi to go beyond idle customary rhetoric and make a commitment to constitutional reform.

Keywords: Botswana, Constitutional reform, economic inequality, unemployment, transformation, Covid-19

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