21 May 2017

Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Gladys Kokorwe has urged Ghanzi South constituents to utilise their constituency office.
Addressing a kgotla meeting in Charleshill on Thursday, Ms Kokorwe said constituency office was a wing of her office.
She encouraged the public to visit the constituency offices so as to access documents such as Hansard, constitution, bills and other parliamentary related documents or to seek assistance on matters relating to the Parliament.
Ms Kokorwe said any public member should enjoy access and services rendered by constituency offices.  

Also, she pointed out that employees of constituency office should not engage in political activities, even though their recruitment recommendations were made by Members of Parliament.
She said they should abide by the Public Service Act.
Those contravening the act, she said they w

ould be dismissed from work.  On live broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings, Ms Kokorwe said she was hopeful that the July session would be broadcasted, though she said it was a daunting task because of other logistics.
The delay to answer the call for live broadcast of parliamentary sessions, she said was due to the financial constraints.
However, she stated that during the last budgetary meeting, it was agreed that the exercise be would allocated funds.
Ms Kokorwe further enlightened the residents about the role of Parliament and its composition.

She stated that one of the duties of Parliament was to make laws and provide oversight function over government institutions.
For his part, the area Member of Parliament, Mr Christian De Graaff stated that parliament plays important role towards the development the country and Batswana.
Mr De Graaff who expressed  gratitude towards speaker’s visit described, Ms  Kokorwe as a    hard worker .

He cited that recently he accompanied her to Cuba on the mission to strengthen the relationship between Cuba and Botswana.
Mr De Graaff explained that Cuba provides Botswana with medical doctors and they cooperate with them in areas such as agriculture and sport. ENDS