Parly demonstrates steady progress in SONA sessions
Laone Choeunyane | Wednesday January 14, 2026 06:58
The report not only recaps the legislative and oversight work of the recent session but also draws comparisons with the previous year's SONA, citing improvements in consistent law-making, enhanced accountability, and growing international engagement.
In terms of legislative productivity, the 2025 SONA saw eight bills introduced, up from six in 2024, reflecting a push in key sectors like governance, labour, health, and finance.
According to Parliament, both sessions passed an equal number of six bills, demonstrating Parliament's ability to maintain high-quality scrutiny whilst processing legislation efficiently.
In a press release, Parliament indicated that amongst 2025's successes were reforms covering labour law updates, public health regulations, citizenship matters, medicines oversight, and international loan authorisations. It also revealed that the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2025, advanced to its third reading and now awaits a final two-thirds majority vote within three months to become law. A fresh introduction, the Cinematograph Bill, 2025, received its first reading, signalling ongoing efforts to modernise cultural and media frameworks. Oversight and accountability emerged as areas of notable improvement. Whilst 347 parliamentary questions were received in 2024, a higher volume than the 270 in 2025. The 2025 session answered 133 questions, surpassing the 114 resolved the year prior. This uptick in resolutions, leaving 137 questions pending compared to a likely larger backlog in 2024, points to greater executive responsiveness and more effective follow-up mechanisms. Ministers' Question Time handled 11 queries, with three answered, whilst Leader of the House Question Time addressed two out of two received.
Representation through private members' motions also played a vital part, though volumes dipped from 24 in 2024 to 18 in 2025. The motions tackled issues such as land governance and forensic audits, public service management reforms, digital innovation, and software localisation. Outcomes included one motion adopted on the Forensic Land Audit, one negatived, and several adjourned for further debate.
Policy matters and ministerial statements further enriched the session. The Draft National Agriculture Policy, 2025, was tabled by the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture. A motion to adopt it was noticed but not yet debated, laying the groundwork for future agricultural advancements. Seven key statements covered agricultural subsidies, gender-based violence and digital safety, education assessments and examination reforms, water debt amnesty, youth and gender affairs, and a Mid-Year Budget Review, providing transparency and direction on evolving national challenges.
A standout feature of the 2025 SONA was its international dimension. Parliament was honoured by an address from India's President Droupadi Murmu, which formally strengthened Indo-Botswana diplomatic and parliamentary ties. Parliament further adopted the Response to the President's Speech, underscoring its growing role in global relations.
The 13th Parliament has also encountered a unique set of challenges. Speaking in an interview with Botswana Television (BTV) News recently, the Speaker of the National Assembly Dithapelo Keoraptse said, “the challenge for the 13th Parliament is that almost 60% of its members are new ...it’s been a great challenge and to try to mitigate it we have done a lot of capacity-building seminars, we have engaged with even inter-parliamentary bodies, various institutions to try and capacitate our members so that they get up to speed with parliamentary processes.”
Dithapelo further stressed the need for Parliament to reform its processes, including the duration for which motions are debated. “Out of 18 motions, at least we need to be dealing with 75% as a minimum rather than be dealing with less than 50%. A motion can actually be discussed with quality deliberations in less than three hours,” he said.
“Plans are underway to enact the Parliamentary Act, which will come with the Parliamentary Services Commission, but also other important aspects of improving the capacity of Parliament, such as being independent enough to marshal our resources,” Keorapetse further said on the reform.
From higher bill submissions and resolved questions to nuanced motions and international diplomacy, the 2025 session built on 2024's foundations with greater efficiency. As Clerk of the National Assembly, Nonofo Zwinila noted, these outcomes reinforce the steady strengthening of oversight, legislative continuity, and international engagement, ensuring Botswana's legislative body continues to serve as a pillar of democratic progress.
Parliament will commence on February 9, 2026, with the budget speech by the Minister of Finance, Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe.