18 Feb 2020

Botswana Parliament looks up to its United Kingdom counterpart to learn more on topical issues such as good governance, says Speaker of National Assembly Mr Phandu Skelemani.

 Speaking during a meeting with UK members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA)  on Monday, he said engagement with the delegation offered a platform to learn, interact and exchange views on matters of mutual interest.

He explained that the Botswana  Parliament was still at a youthful  stage and willing to learn from the UK.  “What I could gather is that UK Parliament has committees that work very hard, we want to exchange views and learn from your best practices,” he stated.

He informed the delegation that the Botswana Parliament had oversight committees that needed to be strengthened.

In addition, he said there were a number of contemporary issues such as women representation in political leadership that needed to be balanced democratically.

“We are a very poor Parliament when it comes to gender, but the whole country, majority of people are women, so when we make the laws they are the minority,” he said. However, he said the country was doing well in placing women in leadership positions in the civil service and parastatals.

Leader of delegation and also House of Lords of International Relations Committee chairperson, Ms Joyce Anelay said the purpose of their  visit was to engage with the newly elected Parliament of Botswana following the October 2019 elections. She said since Botswana and UK had strong historical ties, the visit offered them an opportunity to explore areas of mutual interest as well as opportunities for future collaboration.

“We come here not with fixed ideas but with open minds to learn,” she stated.

She noted that Botswana had  elections that changed the political landscape but stressed the  need for different parties to work together in Parliament.

CPA’s role is to promote and support parliamentarians and their staff to identify benchmarks of good governance and implementation of the enduring values of the Commonwealth.

It is an international community of 180 Commonwealth parliaments and legislatures working together to deepen the organisation’s commitment to the highest standards of democratic governance. ENDs