01 Mar 2018

Children are partners in today’s decision-making processes, hence the need to include them in political party manifestos, says Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Speaking during the launch of Botswana Children’s Month of Broadcasting (BCMB) on Thursday, under the theme Botlhale jwa phala bo tswa phalaneng… countdown to 2019, Mr Masisi said it was important for political parties to create platforms for dialogue to work with children to enable them to capture their views and perspectives. 

This, he said, would help parties to conceive policies that were relevant to children. 

Further, Mr Masisi said children were a special constituency  and deserved respect and recognition, thus everyone in the society had a duty to ensure their safety and protection, adding that they must be included in decision-making as they had their own special way of thinking. 

To kick start BCMB month, which was organised by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Mr Masisi encouraged broadcasters to air programming for and about children throughout the month to allow children to express their hopes and share their dreams as well as  experiences with their peers.

He said as per this year’s theme, there was need to prioritise children’s issues by political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections. Thus he said, through various activities to be undertaken this month, children must be given the platform to engage with politicians, policy makers, media and academics to elucidate their interest in their country’s development. He said this would afford them an opportunity to participate in the policy-making process. 

He buttressed that in line with the BCMB theme for this year, analogy was that children had ideas that had the potential, if properly guided, of shaping the future of our society, a virtue that we should nurture and encourage for the benefit of a society in all its spheres,” he said.

Moreover, Mr Masisi said Botswana, as member of  United Nations, ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995 motivated by the desire to promote and protect children’s rights and children’s basic needs. Thus the children’s act was passed by Parliament in 2009 guided by the UN convention.  

The convention, he said, emphasised the need to promote children rights, protection of the physical, emotional, intellectual and social development as enshrined in the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

For her part, UNICEF representative, Ms Julianna Lindsey said children were a critical component of the society that was capable of raising global awareness on policy issues. She emphasised the need for children to be given the platform to express themselves in the airwaves. 

“Children make 36 per cent of Botswana’s population and this year they shall take it to the airwaves to talk about the issues they want to see in party political manifestos,” she said.

She cited the Soweto Uprising of June 16 against the apartheid regime in South Africa having been led by children and made positive impact in the society. She said this had a major contribution in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. 

Independent Electoral Commission representative, Mr Osupile Maroba said there was need for voter education to be imparted in children at a tender age to enable them to participate in democracy. 

To achieve this, the school syllabus for upper Primary has been changed to include teachings on principles of democracy as well as elections. 

He noted that this would go a long way in curbing voter apathy.  

Speaking on behalf of the children, former chairperson of Children’s Consultative Forum, Mr Cantona Bolokang said there was need for children to be included in decision-making and be given the platform to air their views. 

He said the media should play a role in that regard without focusing on politics only. “I am not impressed with the media. 

They focus too much in politics. Where are the children’s issues?” he asked rhetorically. BOPA