11 Mar 2021

The Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng, said representation is the cornerstone of democracy. Answering a question in Parliament on Wednesday, the minister said the Constitution provided for election of general assembly consisting of 57 elected members ensuring that every constituency was represented by an MP.

At the local level, the same thing was done through a council representative, he said.

The minister said political representatives were expected to articulate, debate and represent views from their respective constituencies including youths. Bringing youths to decision making process was realised by government to be beneficiary where relevant youth may be engaged where positions open up, the minister said.

He said youth were a significant proportion of the population and should be proportionately represented in decision making and majority of them were educated to enhance fresh, innovative and creative ideas yet they remained unemployed saying it was an anomaly that government sought to address. “It is the intent of the transformation agenda that the youth will find niche and make meaningful contribution to development,” he said.

Minister Morwaeng said Batswana would have the opportunity to discuss implementing a quota system for the youths during the coming Constitutional review, however quotas would also be reserved for women and people living with disabilities. Kanye North MP, Mr Thapelo Letsholo, had asked the minister to articulate the value of representation as a cornerstone of democracy and to state what benefits would accrue to Botswana if young people were brought into decision making for country’s the key challenges.

MP Letsholo also asked how Botswana could leverage on the vision, commitment and fresh ideas of young MPs to guide Parliament on how to make policies that responded efficiently not only to today’s needs but also to those of future generations.The minister was also asked what if there were any lessons that could be learnt from countries that had a high number of MPs below the age of 35 and if it was not opportune time for Botswana to implement an elections quota for young people below the age of 35. ends