Mr President, we hear you, but...

Mmegi Editor | Tuesday April 22, 2025 14:24

His take is that Members of Parliament (MPs) should be taking proactive steps to ask relevant Ministers questions outside Parliament and duly get their answers on the spot. That sounds great Mr President.

But, considering that legislators serve the people, they will always find it suitable to raise questions in the August House fully knowing that their constituents are watching and listening. As a former MP yourself, Mr President, you know fully well that the people have a way of measuring the performance of their MPs’ participation in parliamentary debates. Some of the questions raised by MPs normally come from their constituents, they claim. It is also believed that once a question is raised in Parliament that could in a way put pressure on the relevant ministry or department to deliver promptly.

We assume that legislators were properly equipped to handle their work during orientation before they started their work in Parliament. Your concerns Mr President may be legitimate but be careful that they do not morph into interference of some sort by the Executive into matters of the Legislature, which of course you are a part of (as an ex-officio member by virtue of your position.) If you still doubt the quality of delivery by the legislators, you have a youthful and brilliant Speaker of the National Assembly in Dithapelo Keorapetse who would do something to ensure that the legislators improve on their delivery.

We would like to assume that the legislators have not been asking trivial questions all the time so much that you could carry your worries to a kgotla meeting at Kgagodi and elsewhere. The manner in which you are raising your concerns, might force some of the MPs to respond to your concerns because you have been using platforms, which they don’t have access to. Mr President, the fact that the said questions have been allowed to pass through the parliamentary processes is a testimony that the Speaker and his team found them worthy of debate. As the State President, your concerns now raise fears that you might in the end stifle debate, which is a key component of democracy.

We want to appeal to President Boko to give Parliament the requisite space so that it can serve the people with diligence. We know that in a democracy, Parliament plays a crucial role as the elected body representing the people. It acts as a check on the Executive, ensuring accountability, and is responsible for making laws, scrutinising government actions and fostering public participation. Also Parliament’s primary role is to enact laws that govern the country. As such, we urge President Boko to let Parliament play its role without any undue influence especially where his government is not delivering as expected.

“Negativity will distract you from yourgoals, so don’t entertain it.”– Carlos Wallace