20 Feb 2022

 President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has been hailed for instituting and appointing the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into the Review of the Constitution.
The headman of arbitration of Lesilakgong settlement, Mr Alfred Monnathebe, made the remarks during a kgotla meeting addressed by the commission on Thursday.
“Let me therefore urge you to take advantage of this exercise and air your views on the shape, form and trajectory that you would like this country to take,” he told the meeting.
The Chairman of the Commission and former Chief Justice, Mr Maruping Dibotelo made a clarion call on libraries across the length and breadth of the country to procure books on laws of Botswana for perusal by the general public.
He said it was imperative for members of the public to familiarise themselves with laws such as the Commission of Enquiry Act, which make provision for the appointment of commissions of inquiry with special powers.
One of the residents, Mr Ofentse Kgwakgwaa, who is also the chairman of the Village Development Committee (VDC) submitted that the law should limit the tenure of office for both Members of Parliament and Councillors to 10 years.
He stated that political representatives who stayed for over two 5 year-terms in office in either parliament or council tended to perform poorly to the detriment of the ward or constituency.
 Another speaker, Ms Eunice Wetshooteng’s dream was to see the enactment of a special dispensation that would accord People Living with Disabilities (PWD’s) special entry into either council or parliament.
 Lack of financial muscle, she stated, remained an albatross in the neck for PWD’s who wished to vie for elections. Mr Oteng Thaga called for provision of the law that would ensure crime-busting agencies such as the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) were capacitated enough to fight soaring incidents of corruption.
Mr Kgabokwena Kgabo said the envisioned constitution should foster and protect citizen owned businesses and enterprises to ensure the businesses were not muscled out of Batswana hands by moneyed foreign multi-nationals.
He said he would also like to see a situation where the law forced government to fully provide social amenities to all gazetted areas to foster socio-economic development. Mr Sebopiwa Ramothobane supported him, and added that the constitution must regulate land-ownership by foreigners.
“Foreigners own huge chunks of land while Batswana are having a hard time to acquire even a residential plot,” he said.
Ms Mmaodi Moreng said time was ripe for the constitution to advocate the rights of illiterate people. She said it was disheartening that employers often disregarded the uneducated, even when recruiting for lowly jobs. “The law should protect us and ensure that we are considered for menial jobs such as cleaning of offices,” Mr Motsholathebe Afile called for the repeal of the instrument of law that gave the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development the powers to appoint land board members. Instead the people should be empowered by the law to make their own selections at the kgotla.
He also submitted that the constitution should empower councils and ensure they were autonomous.ENDS