08 Sep 2020

Delimitation of constituencies is scheduled to be carried out in 2022 following the Housing and Population Census as part of programmes to be carried out during the remaining period of National Development Plan 11 (NDP11).

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dumizweni Mthimkhulu said this on Monday when delivering mid-term review of NDP 11 of Office of the Ombudsman, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and National Assembly under the thematic sector of governance, peace and security.

He told Parliament that the delimitation exercise would be followed by establishment of polling districts and polling stations.

Furthermore, he said, the election database (Elections Management System) which had been in place since 1998 would be replaced in order to harness modern technology for efficiency and effectiveness of the electoral process.

Other proposed programmes scheduled for the remaining part of the NDP 11, include carrying out the Voter Apathy Study by the commission, which commenced in the current financial year.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the Electoral Management System; Delimitation of Constituencies, Demarcation of Polling Stations and Automation of Records Management would also be carried out during the remaining period of NDP 11.

He said electoral reforms that included adopting and leveraging on modern technology to promote effectiveness in the delivery of electoral processes would be implemented as a way of enhancing citizen participation.

“In addition, a deliberate move will be made to conduct a research specifically on voter apathy as a way of informing decision making in an effort to advance democracy,” he stated.

As for projects under the Ombudsman, he said, for the remaining part of NDP 11 the Maun Office construction for the office of the Ombudsman and the design and construction of new regional Offices in Palapye would be a priority in an effort to ensure that the Central District was well covered.

He said Case Management System was in line with NDP 11 objective of leveraging on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

He said the case management system was necessary to manage complaints, processes and resources efficiently and it would also enable case file tracking and help in the reduction in delays.

Mr Mthimkhulu further said that it was envisaged that for the remaining period of the National Development Plan 11, the National Assembly would focus more on strengthening public participation on policy making, legislation, oversight and national decision making.

“This will be achieved through the roll-out of the Botswana Speaks which uses an interactive platform to connect citizens with Parliament Business and Members of Parliament,” he stated.

Parliament also learnt that the recent introduction of the Live Broadcast of parliamentary proceedings was another avenue aimed at bringing Parliament to the people.

The process, he said would in the remaining period of the NDP 11 be extended to cover parliamentary committees to enable participation of citizens in the oversight processes.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the National Assembly had made a firm commitment to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to monitor oversight committees output and impact during the remaining period of the NDP11.

Furthermore, he said monitoring of oversight committees output and impact would ensure full accountability by government departments and statutory bodies.

He also said that during the remaining period of the NDP11, the National Assembly would establish a Parliament Budget Office with the aim of strengthening financial oversight which was a critical ingredient of good governance.

 

He also said the National Assembly would be focusing on capacity building for Members of Parliament to enhance the quality of legislation, oversight and representation.  BOPA