03 Dec 2014

Member of Parliament for Nkange, Mr Edwin Batshu has urged other members to deliver on the promises they have made to the electorate.

Deliberating on the State-of-the-Nation Address Tuesday, December 2, Mr Batshu said as legislators, it was important for them to respect the rule of law so that Batswana could also follow in their footsteps and become a nation of reverence.

On the other hand, he said his constituents have many hopes on which he promised to work hard to see them fulfilled.

He noted that his constituents would be happy to see the Tutume village infrastructure improved which included roads, hospital and clinic, police station, library, civil servants’ accommodation as well as regular maintenance of the fence that controls the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease.

Mr Batshu, also Minister of Labour and Home Affairs said whereas President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama talked about the decrease in the rate of unemployment in the country in his recent address, government was still concerned about such, especially among the youth. He also suggested that importation of labour be reduced to enable Batswana secure jobs.

Batswana should not be selective in doing jobs, particularly those that entailed domestic work, he added.

On trade disputes, he said government was looking into amending the Trade Dispute Act to accord labour officers the powers to summon employers to their offices to answer for employees’ complaints and settle disputes.

That, he said would assist in dealing with backlog labour disputes cases instead of sending them to industrial courts.

On illegal immigrants, Mr Batshu said his ministry would continue to deport them because there was no alternative and effective way of dealing with the situation.

That, he said was the only way to avoid the small population of Botswana being suffocated by illegal immigrants in their country.

As a result, he said all leaders must be concerned about the issue of illegal immigrants and work together to address it.

On access to legislative, Mr Batshu was concerned about the backlog of cases at the courts and suggested that temporary measures be implored to address the situation, like engaging temporary judicial officers.

Further, he said while the economy was improving, Dikgosi in their various offices around the country be allocated resources, especially vehicles.

He also said their offices should also be improved and furnished to give them the status and respect they deserved.

MP for Selebi-Phikwe, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse thanked , the electorate, family, friends and everybody who made his campaign a success.

On the State-of the-Nation Address, Mr Keorapetse said President Khama’s speech did not present critical and fair assessment of the state of the country in terms of progress, challenges, opportunities in respect of democracy and the economy.

He was of the view that there was regress and stagnation in Botswana’s democracy while President Khama was not engaging the nation and his views were not known on a number of issues that were of concern to Batswana.

MP Keorapetse noted that while Botswana continued to receive compliments from various international organisations, it was also important that President Khama listened to critical conflicting findings by other organisations.

He also said to keep up with contemporary challenges and changes, President Khama was not addressing topical debates about the need to democratise Botswana further.

That, he said showed that President Khama had not shown commitment in modernising Botswana democracy hence the need for the President to be part of national debates so that his views be known about various issues of discussion.

On separation of powers, he argued that Parliament should be independent of the Office of the President and should not depend on the President’s office for its budget.

He added that Parliament was seriously constrained in enforcing its decisions some of which he said included motions on declaration of assets, live broadcast of parliamentary debates as well as political party funding among others.

As a result, he said for parliament to be more effective and independent, the BCP has suggested that there be a live broadcast of proceedings, an independent parliamentary commission to oversee business of parliament.

He added that they also suggested that the Speaker be the Leader of the House instead of the Vice President.

He said as the BCP they would play their role by bringing private members bills for consideration and adoption as well as scrutinise those brought by the executive to see if they were of interest to Batswana. ENDS