05 Apr 2022

A representative of people with disability in Beetsha has condemned the constitution’s silence on the rights of this section of society.

Appearing before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Review of the Constitution on April 4, Mr Pandamo Kalago said with what they saw as the law’s deafening silence on their rights, people with disability were likely to continue suffering.

Mr Kalago who wondered if their exclusion from the constitution when it was initially crafted might have been because there no people living with disability in Botswana, said it was disappointing that over many years now, the law had remained indifferent to their plight.

The Beetsha resident argued that the least that government could do for them was to their assumption positions of authority and that could give them a voice.

“We want to be recognised by the law and be given the responsibility to advocate our own rights in councils and in parliament, as well as at Ntlo ya Dikgosi,” he pointed out.

He indicated that being represented by one of their own in the stated institutions would elevate advocacy for their rights and end their marginalisation.

Mr Kalago further advocated the establishment of a ministry specific to their needs, opining that would add impetus to efforts to turn around their plight and bring them to par with the able-bodied section of the population.

“We have remained marginalised, because there is no one fighting from our corner,” he said.

On children, the resident proposed for the law to allow that they adopt their fathers’ names for surnames even when their parents were not married.

He said it was saddening that fathers were only looked to for purposes of providing for the needs of their children, but were contemptuously denied recognition as fathers in other aspects. 

Mr Mokena Mboroma, who spoke on behalf of the sporting community, decried lack of amenities in rural areas, which he said prevented sporting talent to blossom.

Mr Mboroma said despite the areas being replete with great sporting talent, the unfavourable conditions that prevailed in rural areas meant that the talent of many would never be explored, let alone be identified.

Representing the Beetsha Ministers’ Fraternal, Mr Mohumanegi Ben appealed for recognition of the clergy by the law.

Mr Ben told the commission that men and women of the cloth enjoyed no support from the law despite having contributed immensely to nation building.

He too requested that a ministry be set up to deal with issues of religion, its objective being to enhance the church’s visibility and amplify its voice in society. ENDS