10 Apr 2022

Parliament will soon receive a Bill to amend Section 58 (2)(a) of the Botswana Constitution to allow for increase in the number of elected members of the National Assembly from 57 to 61.

That follows adoption of a motion that MP for Gaborone North, Mr Mpho Balopi tabled in Parliament recently requesting urgent amendment to the Constitution so to allow increase in the number of elected MPs.

Tabling the motion earlier, Mr Balopi argued that the last increase was long time back after the 2001 population census, when elected seats were increased from 40 to 57.

He added that there was no increase of elected seats after the 2011 population census and the subsequent delimitation exercise, because Parliament did not make a proposal to that effect.

Mr Balopi therefore urged Parliament to be proactive by increasing the number of elected seats before commencement of the delimitation exercise.

“The population census is nearly complete and will be followed by the appointment of the Delimitation Commission in accordance with Section 65 of the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana. I believe that the same constraints faced by the Delimitation Commission of 2013 are going to be faced by the next Delimitation Commission if this House fails to amend Section 58 (2)(a) of the Constitution, hence the need to table the motion,” said the legislator.

He said the process of drafting a Bill to amend the aforementioned part of the Constitution would start if Parliament adopted the motion.

Mr Balopi argued that the population had increased since significantly since 2002 and it would be wrong for Parliament to maintain the current number of 57 constituencies.

“We cannot wait for the next Parliament to move this motion as I believe that by July, Statistics Botswana will have completed the population census report and the process of selecting the Delimitation Commission would have been completed,” he said.

The motion was supported by majority of MPs, including Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng, who agreed that the number of elected MPs required increase and Parliament was responsible for determining such.

Though supporting the motion, Selebi-Phikwe West MP Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse, however expressed disappointment that opposition MPs were not consulted. Mr Keorapetse said sufficient consultation was necessary on such an important matter. He said the number of elected seats were few in Botswana compared to other countries in southern Africa, and therefore required significant increase.

“The increase suggested is not enough. I would have preferred it if the increase was informed by statistics from the population census,” he said.

Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane said the increase by four seats was guided by population growth trends since 2001.

Selebi-Phikwe East MP, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana also agreed that the number of elected seats required increase. Mr Nkawana however said the increase should have been informed by the population census. He also said the increase should be more than four elected seats.

“There are many constituencies around the country that are too big. Those constituencies should be reduced in order to give better representation to people,” said the MP.

Tati West MP, Mr Simon Moabi also supported the motion on the basis that increasing the number of elected seats by four would be economically viable. ENDS