Abstract
This article examines political trust in the institution of the presidency. It focuses on the Khama era and aims to find out the underlying motivations to trust the president. Using the Afrobarometer surveys, the paper finds that Batswana are more likely to distrust the president if they perceive high levels of corruption, poor government performance and are dissatisfied with democracy. Partisanship is important in trust for president and the most significant finding is that supporters of the Botswana Democratic Party have lost confidence in the president. Key words: Botswana, political trust, institutions, presidency, attitudes.
Highlights
Botswana‟s political system is widely regarded as a Westminster parliamentary system but in reality it operates a fusion of parliamentary and presidential systems
Whilst recognizing the extensive executive powers the presidency enjoys in Botswana, this article seeks to establish the trust the president and institution are accorded by Batswana
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) under Khama has been rocked by instability to a point where the party experienced an unprecedented split in 2010. In spite of his seeming unifying attributes for which Khama was roped into politics, the trust in the presidency under his reign is on the wane
Summary
Botswana‟s political system is widely regarded as a Westminster parliamentary system but in reality it operates a fusion of parliamentary and presidential systems. The findings of these surveys indicate that political trust has been on a decline in institutions of parliament, presidency and the ruling party. The methodology explains the dependent and independent variables that are used to measure political trust in the executive presidency.
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