14 Jun 2022

Taking Parliament to the people and the community scorecard  are in line with President Mokgweetsi Masisi's Reset Agenda, says Vice President and Leader of the House, Mr Slumber Tsogwane.

Speaking in Good Hope yesterday, Mr Tsogwane said the launch of the initiatives was a reminder that in order to deal with challenges and associated problems, the entire government must be innovative and adaptive to emerging issues.

“Today’s launch is not by accident. It is symbolic of our being as Batswana because we believe that public participation in the works of public institutions is what has taken the country thus far,” he said.

Saying the two initiatives had come at the right time, Mr Tsogwane said they gave Parliament the opportunity not only to fulfill its oversight and representative functions, but also to support the Reset Agenda and foster public participation in decision making process.

He said the initiatives would enable the public to scrutinise issues such as the national budget and give feedback on whether they were benefitting from service delivery. 

Through the initiatives, government hoped the public would be involved in the decision making process as a key ingredient of democracy, he said.

National Assembly speaker, Mr Phandu Skelemani briefed the gathering on  Parliament’s daily operations and the functions of different arms of government such as cabinet.

He said cabinet ministers did not ask questions in Parliament because they were the executive and were instead required to respond to MPs’ queries.

Mr Skelemani said constituents had the right to ask their representatives anything regarding promises made by the politicians.

“The President is the only one who can dissolve Parliament and if after the dissolution the country is faced with a crisis that needs parliamentarians input, the President can recall them so that they solve the issue at hand,” he said. 

Meanwhile deputy speaker, Mr Pono Moatlhodi explained that the two initiatives were the brainchild of Parliament.

Mr Moatlhodi said the public had the right to attend meetings of Parliament and to witness its proceedings.

Good Hope / Mabule constituents requested Parliament to look into the new land board regulations, especially  land transfers, saying the process  was costly and cumbersome.

Calling for professionalism in Parliament, residents said MPs’ behaviour was often disappointing. BOPA