Do we like them?

Do we like Duma Boko?

Our score: 7 out of 10. A solid rights record and some real good, held back by the way he has talked about the media and a few thin follow-throughs.

Boko was born in 1969 in Mahalapye, the son of a schoolteacher, and went to university on a government scholarship. He studied law at the University of Botswana, then did a master's at Harvard. He ran a law firm that took on public-interest and human rights cases before he went into politics.

The case that made his name was in 2006, when he was part of the legal team that won the right for the San people to stay on land the government had earmarked for tourism and mining. He led the Botswana National Front from 2010 and lost two presidential runs before his Umbrella for Democratic Change coalition won 36 of 61 elected seats in October 2024. That ended nearly 60 years of one-party rule, and he was sworn in that November.

On the harm check, the record is good. As a lawyer he represented Legabibo, Botswana's LGBTQ+ rights group, in its fight for official recognition. In March 2026 the government deleted the same-sex provisions from the Penal Code by statutory instrument. The courts had already struck them down in 2019, and the report doesn't credit Boko personally. A same-sex marriage case was heard in July, and the report didn't say where his government stands. I found nothing on his stance on climate, and no harmful company he keeps.

The rough patch is the press. At a May 2025 cabinet retreat, Boko alleged that 90 per cent of media reports are fake. Editors and press groups pushed back, and the Botswana Editors' Forum said he has used public platforms more than once to undermine the media. Global Voices also reported that a state broadcaster presenter was demoted after it was alleged the president's office had directed what could be said on air. No government response to that allegation was reported.

On women, he told Parliament in his November 2025 State of the Nation Address that gender-based violence threatens the country's social fabric. He cited 14,020 police-recorded cases in 2024. The only concrete step reported was a review of the national strategy, with no new money or law. His blunt July 2026 advice to soldiers on leaving toxic relationships fits the same push, and it split opinion rather than offended anyone.

There is one old stain. In 2016, as opposition leader, a parliamentary committee found him guilty of plagiarism, after the Lands Minister said his budget reply was lifted verbatim from the government's land policy. The article carries no response from Boko, and it is a parliamentary finding rather than a court ruling. It is a small mark on a record that is otherwise mostly about promises.