UDC doesn't care about Parly – Saleshando
Larona Makhaiza | Wednesday April 22, 2026 06:00
Addressing the media yesterday following the closure of the budget meeting, Saleshando said a lot needs to be worked on. Saleshando sounded the horn on the low attendance by Members of Parliament (MP) during Parliamentary sessions, bemoaning that it is unparliamentary on all angles.
“There is an issue of attendance in Parliament. It's been an issue as on a few occasions Parliament adjourned because we did not form a quorum, and these are matters that are addressed at a meeting at the General Assembly,” Saleshando said.
The BCP president said it is quite unfortunate that, despite the resolutions agreed upon at the General Assembly, MPs do not follow or apply them to meet the quorum.
“The agreement was that to attain the one-third, all parties must make sure that at any point in time they do not have less than one-third of their MPs in Parliament,” he said.
The MP for Maun North said his party has been doing exceptionally well in attendance of Parliament, even surpassing the set threshold.
“The BCP needs a minimum of five, and we have never fallen foul of this standard as the main opposition. We always maintain a higher number; in fact, the time when the Parliament had to be adjourned, we were more than double the number. We had double the threshold,” he emphasised.
He elaborated that the biggest challenge with the 13th Parliament, around low attendance, emanates from the ruling party, particularly the Cabinet. “With the 13th Parliament, it's ministers who hardly ever attend Parliament. The only time they turn up is when they have questions to answer, and sometimes they don’t even turn for the questions,” he said.
The LoO berated the Cabinet, stating that a number of times the Speaker has tried to intervene and mediate the situation, but it's proving to be an insurmountable challenge.
“Several times the Speaker has had to ask, 'Where are the ministers who are supposed to answer the questions. And this goes to demonstrate lack of seriousness on the part of the ruling party, sloppiness of the ruling party,” Saleshando said.
As Parliament has adjourned, and MPs are going back to their respective constituencies, Saleshando hoped that the electorates could hold the MPs accountable. “It's something that I hope the electorate would also address with their respective MPs now that Parliament has adjourned. To ask them why they are struggling with quorum,” Saleshando noted.
In conclusion, Saleshando said it is now evident to them, as the main opposition party, that the UDC does not care about the National Assembly.
“A lower quorum of one-third becomes a problem for the ruling party because the ruling party does not take Parliament seriously at all,” Saleshando said.
He highlighted that the issue extends to committees in Parliament, as they even fail to meet.
“There are more than 10 committees that should be sitting publicly unless the chair decides otherwise, but some of the committees only met once to elect chairs, and we will take this up with the Speaker,” he said.