06 Mar 2014

Parliament has approved the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) budget estimates of over P154 million for the 2014/2015 financial year.

Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi said P107 million will be for development budget while over P47 million will be for recurrent budget.

Debating the 2014/2015 budget estimates for the commission on March 5, MP for Kweneng East, Maj. Gen. Moeng Pheto supported the budget but said he was not impressed with the new constituency boundaries as well as the demarcated polling districts.

He said the whole exercise did not take into account submissions made by the community during consultation by the Delimitation Commission.

The legislator called for improvement in the voter registration process, saying it should allow people to register anywhere. Voter registration exercise should in future be conducted after political parties’ primary elections so that people would be motivated to register, he said.

Leader of Opposition and MP for Gaborone Central, Mr Dumelang Saleshando complained that there was no effective advertising for supplementary voter registration by IEC despite that it was a national activity.

He also accused the government of its reluctance to implement recommendations made by the 2004 audit on the electoral process, which included, among others, party funding and allowing IEC to take full control of the electoral process.

Mr Saleshando said Parliament had passed a motion requesting government to fund political parties but this has not been done. MP for Letlhakeng West Mr Ngaka Ngaka said voter registration should be done during the holidays because many people tend to go to their home villages during holidays.

He also called for the extension of the voter registration exercise saying that it should take at least three months.

MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule supported the budget but called for improvements in the electoral process. He said the commission should take into account security of documents used during registration adding that the documents should be kept in safe custody of the police or the district commissioner’s office.

For his part, MP for Boteti North Mr Slumber Tsogwane proposed for the establishment of many polling stations to avoid queues during election time.

In response, Mr Masisi said the government stands to support IEC in decisions it makes adding the commission is competent to decide the amount of advertising it wants to undertake.

Minister Masisi who is also MP for Moshupa said if the IEC did not have adequate resources to advertise, that would have been provided for by the state media.

Regarding the delimitation commission, Mr Masisi said the law is clear on this issue. However, he said Parliament has the authority to amend the law.

Mr Masisi said the government is modernising the electoral process, adding that some of the interventions made include arranging names in alphabetical order as well as the private members bill. “We are modernising but in the mean-time let us do with what we have,” he said. ENDS