The elevation of Lt-General Ian Khama to the presidency in April 2008 brought an escalating emphasis on security. A Directorate of Intelligence and Security was operationalised under the aegis of the President, and a spate of extra-judicial killings followed. Khama simultaneously asserted his control over the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), despite the fact that a pro-democratic faction - Barata Phathi - emerged victorious at the BDP congress in Kanye in July 2009. In an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, Khama aimed at 70 per cent of the vote in national elections in October 2009 but achieved just 53.4 per cent. Evidence emerged in early 2010 indicating that Sir Ketumile Masire had been in the pocket of the De Beers corporation throughout his presidency, 1980-98, and that his indebtedness and De Beers' concerns over this had influenced the transition to Ian Khama. This suggested that diamond dependency and corruption were at the core of the autocracy and insecurity, and that together they characterised the debilitating pre-modernity in which the economy and society was trapped.