14 Jun 2022

Parliament should enjoy the responsibility to institute commissions of inquiry, an obligation that presently vests with the president. 

Mr Stanley Masalila of Francistown West said to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Review of the Constitution yesterday that with it being an all-encompassing body in which every single Motswana had representation, parliament was an embodiment of the true desires of the populace, hence it was better placed to set up commissions of inquiry. 

On account of this, Mr Masalila told the commission at a consultative meeting held at Tatitown kgotla that the nation would be more receptive of, and view in more positive light, the commissions of inquiry instituted by parliament. 

“Lekunutu lone le le fa le, keletso yame ke gore fa re sekaseka molao-motheo mo nakong e e tlang le bo le romilwe ke palamente. Palamente e emetswe ke mapalamente ba ba tlhophilweng ke setshaba sotlhe, jaanong re eletsa gore e re le tla jaana re bo re itse gore le romilwe ke setshaba,” he said. 

Francistown West Member of Parliament Mr Ignatius Moswaane advocated the establishment of several bodies, among them the police investigation commissioner, the constitutional court as well as the office of the public protector.

Regarding the former, he submitted: “Bagaetsho, mapodisi fa ba dirile molato ba tlhotlhomisiwa ke mapodisi a mangwe, mo go rayang gore dikgang di ka nna tsa felela di phirimile e le gore jaanong lepodisi le sirelediwa ke lepodisi le lengwe,” he noted, and added that it was therefore crucial to have in place a neutral arbiter whom the public could approach for redress in matters involving members of the Botswana Police Service.

He also appealed for the setting up of a human rights commission, which he opined would further entrench people’s rights and protect them against revocation, at will, by government.

Further to that, he asked for the establishment of a parliamentary service commission, whose mandate would be to provide oversight on the work of the house. 

That, he argued would guarantee the independence of parliament unlike now where it operated under the supervision of a member of the executive, being a cabinet minister. Tatitown ward councillor Mr Ramolotsana Gaethuse proposed for the law to be deliberate in protecting Batswana-owned local and medium enterprises against suffocation from competition imposed by foreign nationals vying for a share of the same markets. 

He said Botswana, like other countries, should tighten its laws and prohibit foreigners from plying their trade in sectors reserved for locals. Mr Gaethuse said it was unfair that Batswana business owners were considered lazy and lacking resilience in business when their success was in fact being curtailed by unwarranted competition from foreigners. 

“Our people who benefitted from initiatives such as the Poverty Eradication Programme have had their projects collapse due to the competition that foreigners subject them to. And it is saddening that the same foreigners, after bullying Batswana out of business, turn around and label them lazy.” 

A resident, Mr Gilbert Boikhutso shared Tatitown kgosi Ms Chamalebo Montshiwa’s  sentiments that customary courts in urban areas should also have headmen of arbitration within their jurisdictions.

Kgosi Montshiwa had earlier pointed out that the absence of such dikgosi resulted in the customary courts grappling with a heavy workload as they heard even minor cases. BOPA