25 Jun 2025

Parliament is confronted with the task of rebuilding and consolidating the country’s democracy, which has experienced setbacks in recent years.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse, said this  yesterday during a courtesy call from the German Ambassador to Botswana, Ms Gabriela Bennmann. He said 13^th Parliament was unique, marking the first time an opposition party won a national election in the country history.

“We have reached this milestone, but greater challenges lie ahead,” he said.

Mr Keorapetse also said Botswana’s democracy had recently faced challenges hindering its progress, including growing concerns about corruption and inadequate independence of parliament and other oversight institutions.

He said strengthening parliament and democracy required capacity building for Members of Parliament, adding that this would in turn enhance  oversight function. Capacity building, he said was  also necessitated by the fact that seventy per cent of the current parliamentarians were new.

However, Mr Keorapetse acknowledged that the need for capacity building coincided with a period when the country was experiencing economic contraction due to low diamond sales. Further, He cited studies indicating a preference for democracy among African populations over authoritarian rule, noting that African leaders had fallen short in providing adequate democracy for their citizens.

“We view Parliament as essential in upholding democracy and preventing regression,” said Mr Keorapetse, adding that significant improvements to the democratic process were possible.

On other matters, he noted the underrepresentation of women in Botswana Parliament, which he said was contrasting with their broader presence in executive positions.

Ambassador Bennmann, in her remarks, said that similar to Botswana, Germany also had a relatively new parliament, which was still finding its footing. She said the German Parliament had regional friendship groups and expressed interest in collaborating with their Botswana counterparts.

Ambassador Bennmann said that several avenues for cooperative partnerships with Botswana Parliament could be explored. In addition, she said just like Botswana, Germany society faced a law and equality problems and the two countries could collaborate to address issues of gender-based violence. ENDS