27 Feb 2020

Members of Parliament have expressed different views in their debate of the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration’s 2020/2021 financial year recurrent and development budget proposals presented to Parliament on Tuesday.

Supporting the budget proposals, Vice President Mr Slumber Tsogwane applauded Minister Kabo Morwaeng for the attention the ministry was drawing towards HIV/AIDS and other related diseases.

He said government should continue to mobilise resources against HIV/AIDS, adding that currently government was also giving the same attention to addressing Non-Communicable Diseases as HIV/AIDS.

Further, Mr Tsogwane said government was going through rationalisation process particularly the Office of the President. 

He said the ministry would soon reduce the number of agencies and activities and services provided by the Office of the President.

He indicated that there was likely to be a reduction of ministries. 

Mr Tsogwane also commended government for good relations with employee unions.

Member of Parliament for Goodhope/Mabule, Mr Eric Molale applauded the ministry’s budget saying the proposal was in line with good democratic governance of Botswana. 

Mr Molale added that the Constitution Review was a process that needed planning.

Member of Parliament for Maun West, Mr Dumelang Saleshando indicated that the Directorate of Intelligence Security Services (DIS) was a threat to the country’s economy and therefore needed to be disbanded. 

Mr Saleshando argued that the DIS was actively involved in awarding public tenders, saying projects which would have created jobs for Batswana were on hold because of interference and misconduct of the DIS.

Mr Saleshando further said state media bias continued despite the Ombudsman Report prior to the 2019 general elections which he said confirmed that Botswana Television was used to favour the ruling party. 

He said in the 2019 election campaigns elections, Btv continued to be biased and did not bring any changes to the way it operated.

Again, he argued that Btv portrayed the elections as a one horse race and giving the ruling party more air space than other political parties.

Selebi Phikwe West legislator, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse noted that Botswana had regressed democratically over the years. 

He said there was need to build strong democratic institutions.

Mr Keorapetse also said the Office of the President was bloated with agencies and services. 

He said there cannot be any efficiency and effectiveness with many agencies in one place.

Okavango Member of Parliament, Mr Kenny Kapinga called for live broadcast of Parliament proceedings saying constituents needed to see their representatives.

Mr Kapinga indicated that to build a professional public service, government should de-politicise the public service.

He said people should occupy posts on merits and capabilities and not because they were affiliated to some political party.

He said to restore the image of the country’s public service, government should desist from employing political activists and assigning them to high level positions. Ends