09 Nov 2020

The President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, has appealed to Batswana to participate in the constitutional review exercise with maturity, objectivity and tolerance.

Delivering State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) in Gaborone yesterday, he stated that government remained committed to the review exercise that would begin in earnest early next year.

He said government strived to attain clean and open government where civil liberties and human rights were upheld as espoused in the Constitution.

In that regard, he said government had established a human rights office with a mandate to, among other things, provide strategic guidance in the promotion and protection of human rights, coordinate implementation of recommendations by international and regional treaty bodies.

This, he said was a significant milestone in honouring reporting obligations to the United Nations as to date, Botswana had deposited the Country Report on the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) with the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Country Report on the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in January and May 2020, respectively.

Furthermore, he said government was finalising the Universal Peer Review Mid Term Report to also be submitted to United Nations.

President Masisi also stated that amendment of the Ombudsman Act to convert office of the Ombudsman into National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) was also nearing completion and would empower the office to address human rights issues.

He said the Legal Practitioners Act was being amended to make the legal profession more responsive to the needs of members of the public in order to enhance access to justice and the rule of law.

Regarding jurisdiction of small claims courts, he said it had been increased from P10 000 to P30 000 and that courts would further be rolled out to Palapye, Jwaneng and Maun in addition to those in Gaborone and Francistown. ENDS