21 Nov 2013

Member of Parliament for Nata/Gweta, Mr Rayner Makosha has complained of what he termed as incompetent journalism by some of the media practitioners in the country.

Mr Makosha said Parliament during his debate on the State-of-the-Nation Address, that some journalists tended to report untruthful and malicious information that ended up misleading the nation. Such untruths, he said, might lead to instability in the country.

He complained of the level of criticism that government received from some media houses and made reference to paragraph 178 of the State-of-the-Nation Address in which President Khama said “perhaps the best evidence of the continued vibrancy of our democracy is the criticism of all sorts is expected and when constructive readily embraced.”

Some journalists, he said, abused the freedom of expression granted to them by the country’s democracy and continued to feed the nation with unfounded reports. He said journalists should understand the role they played in nurturing the country’s democracy.

He said a vibrant democracy relied on the pluralist participation of all sectors of society, including journalists and democracy flourished best when journalists are able to provide civil society with the information they need to formulate informed positions on economic, social and political matters.

He indicated that media houses should promote civil society trust in the media because journalism has traditionally been functioning outside of civil society and those working in journalism must maintain the integrity of the profession.

He mentioned that coalitions between civil society and journalism should be developed to help ensure a stronger relationship of engagement.

The Nata/Gweta legislator encouraged media houses to ensure that their work force is qualified and competent in order to promote ethical and professional journalism.

On the issues of tourism, Mr Makosha highlighted that it is pleasing to note that the CNN Travel Report ranks Botswana second as the favourite destination for Safari tourists.

He however urged government to come up with more initiatives aimed at improving the participation of Batswana in the tourism industry. He said the Nata area has the potential to contribute in the tourism industry should government reserve some licenses like mobile operators and caravan sites strictly for the locals.

More efforts, he said should be invested in empowering local communities through the promotion of Community Based Natural Resource Management Project (CBNRMs).

He said the 109 CBNRMs that currently exist in the country is not a satisfactory number since the country has natural resources in abundance. Ends