11 Aug 2016

 Members of Parliament, on Wednesday, continued to debate the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, which aims to amend the Electoral Act in order to improve efficiency in the electoral process.

The bill, as presented by the minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale, seeks to addresses issues of electronic voting, voter registration, preparation of rolls, deleting provisions for supplementary rolls and assistance of voters by election officers.

MP for Shashe West, Mr Fidelis Molao, said the amendment was a good initiative geared towards improving the electoral system.

Mr Molao said the electronic system would address issues of long queues and delays pending results.

Upon success of the bill, Mr Molao urged MPs to go all out to educate the electorate about the new gadgets so as to build trust.

MP for Gaborone Bonnington South, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, noted that as much as the change was necessary, it should be introduced in an above reproach way to people.

He said the amendment of the electoral system needed consultation with the public to get their views so that it did not seem as if Parliament was imposing the changes on them.

The legislator said there was no system without pros and cons; hence consultation would help identify cons that could be addressed ahead of the roll out.

MP for Boteti West, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, said the envisaged amendment was a result of the Independent Electoral Commission’s initiative after realising that the new system would add value to the electoral system.

He said Batswana should embrace the change because it would take the country forward and put it at par with other countries.

MP for Ghanzi North, Mr Noah Salakae, opposed the bill stating that consultation with Batswana was vital because they valued dialogue.

He said issues that involved the amendment of the electoral system were core to the country; hence they required opinions from society.

MP for Francistown West, Mr Ignitious Moswaane, urged the house for adjournment of the debate on the bill as per Standing Order 54.1, citing that there was no proper consultation with the electorates.

He said he supported the bill with reservations arguing that the bill be delayed until the next Parliament sitting in November after further consultation with citizens.

Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi concurred with Mr Moswaane that further consultation was fundamental because Botswana had always believed in consultation.

He further suggested that, while plans to introduce the voting machines were underway, there should be consideration of a trail paper to reconcile votes with those of the machine in cases of complaints.

Gaborone Central MP, Dr Phenyo Butale, said he wondered as to why the bill was hurried because voting was a sensitive issue that required due diligence and participatory democracy.

He also said the bill was suspicious in the sense that procurement process was continuing before the bill had been given the go-ahead by Parliament.

“We should not make such a radical departure from something we are used to in a manner that we are doing. This is not a small matter - the issue of voting is at the core of democracy,’’ he said.

He further said the machine voting system was prone to hacking.

MP for Takatokwane, Mr Ngaka Ngaka supported the bill saying the proposed voting machine was demonstrated to some MPs during a benchmarking exercise in India.

He said the machine had some safety components that will guard against hacking the system of voting. Ends