30 Jul 2017

MPs have expressed differing opinions on proposals to change the Botswana  Defence Force Act.

 Presenting the proposals, opposition MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse of Selebi Phikwe West said the benefit conferred on civil servants by the

Public Service Act of 2008 for public officers who were indicted  to be paid their full salaries had left out members of the BDF by not accordingly amending the laws regulating their employment.

Mr Keorapetse said paying an officer facing either external or internal charges full pay was in line with the notion of the presumption of innocence till proven guilty.

“Officers or soldiers facing charges, either internal disciplinary or criminal charges before the civil courts must be presumed innocent until proven otherwise,” he said.

He said paying officers and soldiers a portion of their salary was therefore punishment before a guilty verdict could be passed.

He implored the House to note that if an officer or soldier had their payments withheld during suspension period, which he said was sometimes up to between two and four years, the damage suffered was immeasurable that it was hard to almost impossible to reverse.

Mr Keorapetse noted that the payment of withheld payments upon reinstatement following a favourable finding by a court martial or civil court could not undo the damage or injustice of withholding a portion of earnings for months or years.

In support of the proposal, Gaborone Bonnington North MP Mr Duma Boko hailed it for seeking to do away with the current status quo where a member of the BDF under interdiction has a portion of their salary withheld for the duration of the interdiction.

He said the current dispensation under which a person facing investigation or charges, whose guilt had not been established, was subjected to punishment by way of having a portion of his salary withheld, violated the presumption of innocence until one was proven guilty.

He said the arrangement violated fundamental requirements of justice in that it denied the affected officers the opportunity to be heard before a pronouncement could be made on their guilt or lack thereof.

“This amendment seeks to correct this grievous violation so that a member of the BDF can enjoy their salary even on suspension until a pronouncement of guilt is made,” he said, describing the proposed amendments as very important and absolutely overdue.

MP Buti Billy of Francistown East also supported the bill saying being placed on half salary due to being on interdiction resulted in officers suffering for too long since it usually took long for their cases to be disposed of.

Mr Billy said as a result of the current arrangement, members of the army often ended up getting involved in criminal activities in efforts to mitigate their suffering.

He said fast-tracking  cases  would greatly help lessen the length of time soldiers  on interdiction lived on half salary, thereby also reducing significantly the chances of them being tempted to get entangled in social ills such as crime.

Also in support of the bill, MP for Gabane-Mmankgodi Major General Pius Mokgware said withholding a portion of salaries of soldiers on interdiction more often pushed them into violating other BDF Act provisions such as the one on financial embarrassment; explaining that being financially embarrassed was a punishable offence under the Act.

He said while it was not in dispute that the conduct of an army officer must be impeccable, it was unfair for those suspected of having committed an offence to be punished twice.

Maj. Gen Mokgware added that it was sad that in its present state, the BDF Act did not prescribe offences in relation to which one could be interdicted.

He said such a prescription was necessary as at the moment some of offences for which soldiers were being interdicted did not warrant such a measure. He disagreed with the notion by some MPs that the amendment could encourage indiscipline in the army, arguing that the BDF Act spelt out other strict disciplinary measures that could be used to enforce discipline.

Nata-Gweta MP Mr Polson Majaga also supported the bill saying cases for BDF members on interdiction took long to be completed resulting in the affected parties suffering due to not receiving their full salaries for extensive periods of time.

Mr Majaga said members of disciplined forces played a critical role in society hence the need for the review of pieces of legislation regulating them with the view to doing away with those clauses that impacted negatively on their lives.

He added that suffering from consequences of an interdiction and subsequent withholding of part of officers’ salaries could breed anger in them, resulting in them opting to leave the force even after being pronounced innocent.

Specially Elected MP and Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Eric Molale said amendments would serve no good save to encourage indiscipline in the army.

Mr Molale said by their nature, forces had peculiar job requirements characterised by high risk and danger; the peculiarities which he noted have to be taken into consideration when determining the conditions of service of the force members. He said it was therefore amiss for Parliament to seek to legislate to encourage indiscipline in the country’s disciplined forces.

He said it was disheartening for there to be mention of interdiction when talking about the BDF, observing that that was in itself evidence of indiscipline in the army, something he said should be unheard of in disciplined forces.

"The constitution of the republic defines all the forces as disciplined forces, and once defined as such, they are regulated by control, command and enforced discipline so that the character of the forces’ discipline will always be of a high level,” he said.

He said accepting the proposed amendments would therefore be against the objective for which the BDF Act was put into place, noting that it would be improper for Parliament to act at variance with the objective of the Act to promote and maintain discipline in the army.

MP Slumber Tsogwane of Boteti West also did not support the bill and argued that while he was not against the speeding up of cases of officers on interdiction to shorten their period of suffering, he did not see the need for Parliament to seek to change the current arrangement where officers had part of their salaries withheld.

 He said in the past such an arrangement applied to the entire public service, but that relevant authorities later reviewed it , doing away with the requirement to withhold a portion of an officer’s salary. Mr Tsogwane, also Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said it was therefore only proper to allow the same process to be followed with regard to BDF members. ENDS