The need to prioritise national security in Botswana

Solly Rakgomo | Monday February 20, 2023 06:00

Even though some critics question the modality of giving such a large amount to the security sector, it must be realised that the complexity of security challenges facing Botswana requires that priority should be accorded to the security sector.

Of all these security challenges transnational crime is a serious national security threat facing Botswana with multiple criminal activities such as smuggling of small arms and light weapons, human trafficking, smuggling of counterfeit pharmaceutical products and drugs, illegal Forex exchange, poaching and others. These are very harmful to all the seven dimensions of human security.

It is imperative that there should be financial available to acquire the necessary resource to mitigate transnational crime.However, to ensure that the finances are utilised well to successfully combat a plethora of security threats such as these, it is important for Botswana to come up with a National Security Strategy that can go a long way in protecting its citizens and critical infrastructures at home.

A National Security Strategy if well implemented will go a long way in providing a unified national strategy for democratically legitimate defense and public security provision.

This is because this kind of strategy explains how a nation defines security and safety and how it intends to achieve it. In this sense, the strategy will work towards ensuring the protection of our nation’s fundamental and enduring needs, i.e. protect the lives and safety of Batswana, maintain the sovereignty of Botswana with its values, institutions and territory intact, and promote the prosperity and well-being of the nation and its people.

Within the framework of a National Security Strategy, there is also the need to avail financial resources to establish a National Inter-Agency Collaboration Centre because modern security challenges threats demand close cooperation across all levels of government and across a wide range of security agencies. For Botswana to effectively protect her critical infrastructure requires some close collaboration between security agencies such as the BDF, DIS, BURS, DCEC, Police, Immigration, Wildlife Department and the Private Security Industry.

Forging these new structures and relationships through the establishment of a National Inter-Agency Collaboration Centre will be challenging, but it must be done if our country is to ensure public safety and avoid vulnerabilities that those criminal elements might try to exploit in order put the citizens in danger. As inter-agency collaboration is concerned about the act of promoting an active working relationship among multiple security agencies with a view of improving process outcomes at a reduced cost, a well resourced National Inter-Agency Centre manned by various agencies in the security field such as the DIS, BDF, DCEC, POLICE, DPP, experts in criminal justice, counter-terrorism, strategic studies, cybercrime is what we need as a nation where not only resources will be shared, but also technical expertise on how to strategically mitigate against emerging security threats.

Lessons that Botswana can draw from the USA is that the 911 Commission observed that the US government’s single greatest failure preceding the September 11, 2001, attacks was the inability of federal agencies to effectively share information about suspected terrorists and their activities. After the USA established inter-agency collaboration post- 911, the success of such collaborative efforts are visible as no external terrorist group has carried out any attack on US soil. It is therefore upon this that inter-agency collaboration between security agencies and related experts can succeed in fighting against threats such as transnational crime as they will be able to collaboratively gather intelligence, analyse it and share it amongst themselves before deciding on an effective plan of action.

Furthermore, the centre may engage in research on various security trends and come up with informed strategies on mitigating against national security threats facing Botswana. Collaboration between security agencies under the framework of a National Security Strategy and guided by a strong National Security Policy is one of the ways in which Botswana can go a long way in effectively addressing some security threats facing our nation especially organised crime.

In addition, Botswana government should understand that are resources needed for effective border security management, which is essential for preventing and countering the flow of illicit arms and other illicit goods that are used for various criminal activities.

This calls for the establishment of a fully fledged border security management agency tasked with securing the borders. This agency needs to be resourced with the latest technology such as unmanned drones along the country’s vast and porous borders for intelligence gathering of any suspicious activities. These drone technologies should be able to adequately send signals to law enforcement agencies who in these cases are Rapid Response Teams stationed at strategic points along different border posts and police stations around the country. Depending on the terrain and the distance, the Rapid Response Teams should either use strategic helicopters or official vehicles to attend to the security situation on the ground.

For this kind of strategy to be effective, there must be commitment from the government to invest money to acquire the technology and related resources that are required and this can go a long way in Botswana’s long-term fight against transnational arms smugglers along our porous borders. Even though this strategy has its own weaknesses, it has proved to be successful in the USA where law enforcement agencies apply it to combat transnational crime along the USA-Mexico border. Technology must also be applied efficiently at our border posts. For example, there is a need for the use of CCTV cameras, which are covertly manned on a full time basis by law enforcement officers and experts in criminal science and psychology with the strong ability to spot unusual behaviour form those who enter and leave Botswana.

In addition, there is need for arms detection X-rays as most of these small arms and light weapons can easily be concealed both within vehicles, luggage and body. Botswana must also have a national and international front line data base access where border officers can screen people’s travelling documents, goods and vehicles against millions of Interpol records. As a member of Interpol, Botswana has real time access to Interpol range of criminal data bases, which contain millions of records contributed by many countries. These border checks against Interpol data bases provide information in real time allowing law enforcement officers to detain potential criminals on the spot.

Besides this much needed technology, law enforcement officers must value the essence of strong and constant visibility at the different border posts with robust stop and search operations.

This visibility has the potential to send a strong message to potential criminals of the risk of smuggling illicit goods into the country. Most importantly there must be commitment and political goodwill from all the stakeholders involved as these strategies are meant for the national security interest of Botswana. As a parting shot, the government of Botswana must understand that protecting Botswana’s borders from the goods such as drugs, which cause serious security problems, while promoting lawful entry and exit, is essential to homeland security, economic prosperity and national sovereignty.