10 Nov 2025

November 7, the day when the special meeting of Parliament to consider the draft National Development Plan 12 concluded, also marked precisely a year for Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse as the Speaker of the 13^th Parliament.

Mr Keorapetse, who is the 10^th Speaker of Botswana Parliament, reiterated his vision of transforming the National Assembly into a high performing institution.

“This transformation will be achieved through strengthening institutional capacity and elevating Parliament’s independence. The current leadership is dedicated to comprehensive reform that ensures our legislative body remains responsive to contemporary challenges, while upholding democratic principles,” he noted.

In the wake of the current economic climate, Mr Keorapetse said Parliament was committed to forging strategic partnerships to enhance operations at a minimal cost to government.

He also stated that the aim was to reduce carbon footprint by adopting modern technologies that were aligned with green energy. Mr Keorapetse further indicated that they have introduced an initiative which did not only preserve the heritage of the legislature, but also generated income in the midst of fiscal challenges.

“We are documenting our rich legislative heritage, creating opportunities to generate revenue through heritage tourism initiatives, while preserving institutional memory for future generations,” he explained.

However, the Mr Keorapetse expressed concern at the low representation of women in Parliament, which he said thwarted efforts of attaining gender equity in various positions across the political landscape.

Mr Keorapetse said while acknowledging the need to capacitate new Members of Parliament, he urged them to anchor their deliberations on the principle of democracy.

“This institution serves as the heartbeat of our democracy and its strength directly reflects the vitality of our nation. As Members of Parliament we should ensure that democracy is adequately supplied because our citizens demand it,” he said during.

Additionally, he said as an oversight body and law-making organ of government, they must ensure that bills and policies were thoroughly scrutinised by the relevant structures before being presented to Parliament.

He said this would enhance quality of the deliberations and ultimately the bills passed. Equally, he appreciated the role and contribution played by other stakeholders such as the civil society and members of the public in sharpening Parliament debates and the outcome.

To this end, he said while they had made strides in equitably distributing committee membership to all political parties represented in Parliament, he underscored the need to capacitate the human resource toward building a robust structure.  ENDS