26 Jul 2022

 The duties of the vice president, which are proportionate to the taxpayers’ expenditure on the office bearer, should be spelt out in the constitution. 

Botswana Critical Think Tank, a non-partisan grouping comprising people from different professional disciplines, submitted to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution on Monday that in its current format, the constitution was silent on the duties of the vice president. 

Group representative Mr Tsholofelo Mvungama said as a result of this silence, the efficient utilisation of the vice president could not be ascertained, hence the need to clearly set out in the constitution what duties that the position entailed.

 “There are no substantive duties for the vice president set out in the current constitution that would optimally occupy the incumbent. In our view, given the resources expended on the person it would only make sense to give them substantive duties,” he said. 

On an unrelated matter, Mr Mvungama shared the group’s thoughts on the committee on the Prerogative of Mercy as provided for by Section 53, saying their view was that it was necessary for the committee to have clearer guidelines on both the procedural and substantive aspects of its work. 

That, he said would give guidance on which matters were to be considered and the manner in which they were to be approached. 

On the appointment of members of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Mr Mvungama said the process should involve parliament in some supervisory or nomination role.

 “The President as head of the executive should call for nominations or present names to parliament for approval as the nation shall see fit,” he said and added that the commissions’ duties also ought to be explicitly spelt out in the constitution. 

On yet another issue, the Botswana Critical Think Tank submitted that while the right to the freedom of assembly could be curtailed on the backing of the Public Order Act, there was need for clarity on the subject.

“In the interest of public order, the Public Order Act riding on the proviso to Section 13 allows the police to curtail this right. What is not clear is what considerations come into play, and therefore in what instances can such decisions be challenged,” Mr Mvungama added. 

The group, Mr Mvungama said, also strongly believed that Botswana should establish a human rights commission that would deal with issues of human rights abuses by both government and private entities. 

He said their view was that the commission could either be merged with the office of the Ombudsman with parliament providing oversight, or be constituted by suitable reputable persons with the Ombudsman performing the functions of secretariat. ENDS