Botswana’s intelligence and security landscape has entered a new chapter following President Duma Gideon Boko’s appointment of Aobakwe Moemedi Monamo as Acting Director-General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), effective today, 13 October 2026.
The appointment, announced by the Office of the President, follows the retirement of Brigadier (Retired) Peter Fana Magosi, who led the intelligence agency from 2018. Beyond the change at the top, however, the transition presents an opportunity to confront a more fundamental question: what kind of intelligence institution does Botswana need in a modern democracy?
For Monamo, the challenge will be to establish a new institutional culture that places intelligence gathering, national security, professionalism and respect for the rule of law at the centre of the agency’s operations.
From a security-heavy culture to intelligence-led reform
The DISS occupies a strategically important position in Botswana’s national security architecture. Its statutory mandate includes identifying threats to national security, advising the President and Government, and protecting the country’s political, military and economic interests.
Yet the agency has faced public and academic scrutiny over the breadth of its powers, its accountability mechanisms and its relationship with other state institutions. A 2025 academic study by University of Botswana scholar Kebapetse Lotshwao examined concerns about the potential use of intelligence institutions for coercive purposes and proposed reforms to strengthen accountability and prevent political misuse.
The task before Monamo is therefore not simply to take over an organisation. It is to help shape an institution whose authority rests on public confidence, legal compliance and its ability to protect the nation without undermining the rights of the people it serves.
This is where the distinction between a militant security posture and a professional, intelligence-led approach becomes important.
A modern intelligence agency should not be measured by the visibility of its power, the fear it commands or the extent to which it intervenes in public affairs. Its effectiveness should instead be assessed through the quality of its intelligence, its ability to anticipate threats, its contribution to national stability and its respect for constitutional institutions.
Reform without dismantling national security
Reforming the DISS should not be confused with weakening it. Botswana requires a capable intelligence service to confront threats such as organised crime, terrorism, espionage, cyber threats, economic sabotage and risks to critical national infrastructure.
The question is how to strengthen that capability while ensuring that exceptional powers are not treated as ordinary instruments of administration.
A key priority should be a clear separation of responsibilities between intelligence services, the police, anti-corruption investigators and other law-enforcement agencies. Intelligence officers should gather, assess and disseminate intelligence within their legal mandate, while criminal investigations and prosecutions should be handled by the institutions empowered to perform those functions.
Such boundaries would encourage inter-agency cooperation rather than institutional rivalry, duplication or the perception that one security institution exercises authority over all others.
The government has already signalled an appetite for reform. In March 2025, the Minister for State President, Moeti Mohwasa, said the DISS Act of 2007 was under review, with the stated intention of strengthening operational autonomy, accountability and parliamentary oversight.
The leadership transition offers an opportunity to translate those intentions into concrete institutional changes.
Accountability as a pillar of national security
One of the most important reforms would be to strengthen independent oversight. Intelligence work necessarily requires confidentiality, but confidentiality should not become a blanket exemption from accountability.
A properly empowered parliamentary committee, effective complaints mechanisms and independent review of alleged abuses could help ensure that sensitive operations remain lawful without exposing legitimate intelligence methods or sources.
The appointment process for future directors-general could also be made more transparent, with appropriate parliamentary scrutiny and safeguards against partisan influence. These measures would help ensure that the agency serves the Republic rather than the interests of any individual officeholder or political administration.
Equally important is internal reform. Officers should receive continuing training in constitutional law, intelligence ethics, human rights, digital intelligence, evidence assessment and professional standards. Performance should be judged by reliable intelligence and demonstrable contributions to national security, not by the number of arrests, raids or confrontations an agency conducts.
For Monamo, whose professional background includes legal practice, this presents an opportunity to place greater emphasis on legality, institutional discipline and the proper limits of state power.
Building a civilian intelligence institution
The phrase “non-militant” should not mean a weak or passive intelligence service. Rather, it should describe an agency that does not rely on a militarised posture or coercive visibility to demonstrate its authority.
Botswana can pursue a more civilian, intelligence-led model in which officers work discreetly, assessments are evidence-based, operations are proportionate and cooperation with other state institutions is guided by law.
This model would also recognise that national security extends beyond conventional threats. Economic intelligence, protection of strategic investments, cybersecurity, infrastructure resilience and the detection of transnational criminal networks are increasingly important responsibilities.
The agency must also earn the confidence of ordinary citizens. People should be able to understand, in broad terms, the legal limits of intelligence operations and the channels available when they believe those limits have been breached.
Public confidence is not a substitute for operational effectiveness; it is one of the conditions that can sustain it.
A defining test for Monamo
Monamo assumes the acting position at a time when expectations for public-sector accountability and institutional reform are prominent in Botswana’s national conversation.
His immediate responsibility will be to ensure continuity in the protection of national interests. His longer-term challenge, should he be confirmed in the position, will be to help build a service that is professionally independent in its assessments, accountable under the law and insulated from partisan direction.
The measure of success will not be the departure of one director-general or the arrival of another. It will be whether the institution becomes more effective at anticipating threats, more disciplined in exercising its powers and more clearly accountable to the Republic it serves.
Botswana does not have to choose between a strong intelligence service and a democratic one. The two should reinforce each other.
Who is Aobakwe Monamo?
Aobakwe Monamo is a lawyer who previously worked as an employee and managing partner at Duma Boko’s law firm (Duma Boko Attorneys / Boko & Company). Following his election , President Duma Boko appointed Monamo as the Deputy Director-General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) in December 2024.
He began his legal career as a prosecutor with the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP), gaining experience in criminal proceedings and the administration of justice.
