The government of Botswana has called out Joseph Kabila for delaying elections urging the Democratic Republic of Congo’s leadership to relinquish power.
In a press release titled Refusal by Some Leaders to Hand over Power, the Botswana government expressed “her concern regarding the disturbing trend, whereby some political leaders refuse to relinquish power when their term of Office expires. These leaders have now resorted to measures such as delaying holding of elections, or amending their national Constitutions to effectively extend their term of Office.”



Botswana described the leaders of such countries as “driven by self-interest, instead of those of the people they govern.” Only one country was being made reference to, “the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a case in point.”
President Joseph Kabila took over power after the assassination of his father in 2001. Elections should have been held in DRC in 2016, but Kabila has kept on postponing and delaying the elections.



Botswana has called for the “international community to put more pressure on the leadership in the Democratic Republic of Congo to relinquish power and pave way for the ushering-in of a new political dispensation.”
Botswana has been consistently speaking against leaders who overstay in power.
When Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe was in power, he felt the wrath of the Botswana government that consistently criticized his dictatorship. Ian Khama, the president of Botswana wrote an open letter to Mugabe late last year. In the letter, President Khama said, “The people of Zimbabwe have for a long time been subjected to untold suffering as a result of poor governance under your leadership. It is therefore my conviction that by vacating the Presidency, this will usher in a new political dispensation that will pave the way for the much needed socio-economic recovery in Zimbabwe.”
When the axe fell on the then vice president of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, President Khama threw a shade saying, “Another vice president has lost their job as a result of a fall from GRACE.”