04 Mar 2014

Party liaison committees are neither legally recognised nor constituted, Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.

Responding to a question from the Member of Parliament for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule on February 27, Mr Masisi said these committees were an initiative by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to establish dispute resolution mechanisms or structures that could deal with differences between stakeholders on issues of elections before they escalated to the courts of law.

He said the other purpose of these committees was to encourage dialogue between political parties and other stakeholders comprising local structures at local level.

Mr Masisi noted that the recommendation to give party liaison committees statutory powers within the electoral laws formed part of the recommendations from the evaluation of the 2009 general elections.

He said the recommendations were received by his office and were receiving necessary attention. He, however, said the recommendation on statutory status of party liaison committees would receive further consideration along other recommendations.

MP Modubule had asked the minister whether party laison committees were legally recognised and that if not, when did he intend to have these committees legally recognised. ENDS