12 May 2022

The National Assembly spent huge sums of money on hotel accommodation for Members of Parliament (MPs), due to poor planning.

Acknowledging the expenditure  before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Ms Barbara Dithapo said they had learnt the importance of planning ahead, especially as it related to use of public money.

Ms Dithapo explained that the departure process from the Parliamentary Village for the former MPs, coupled with personal circumstances that were common on vacating residential premises, contributed to the delay in carrying out renovations for the newly elected MPs to take up residence at the village.

She said they therefore did not have enough time to fix the apartments before the new MPs arrived, making them stay in the hotel for almost two months.

Ms Dithapo said it was important to ensure that MPs vacated the parliamentary flats on time and also not to extend members stay, saying that would afford them ample time to prepare for the incoming legislators.

She said they would have fared a lot better had they facilitated preparations for accommodation beforehand.

This comes after Parliament accommodated 63 MPs at Avani Resort and Casino pending refurbishment of the parliamentary village from October 2019 to December 2019, spending P6.2 million in the process.

Responding to a question from PAC Chairperson, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse why they booked accommodation for all the MPs, even those from the Gaborone area, Ms Dithapo said it was in an effort to ensure all of them had decent accommodation.

Meanwhile, she said there was need for a bigger budget to accommodate the needs of Parliament.

She lamented that the budgetary constraints also prevented different Parliamentary bodies from interacting with others outside the country. Ms Dithapo also decried shortage of staff. ENDS