The Speaker, impartiality and reform

Dithapelo Keorapetse | Friday April 24, 2015 17:15

The office became especially controversial and became a key aspect of the legal battle that ensued just after the 2014 general elections. The seats of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were hotly contested after the general elections; the tradition has been that the ruling party meets at their caucus to nominate and or finalize persons to fill up the office and Parliament would rubberstamp that decision.

However, in 2014, the opposition nominated Dr Margaret Nasha for the position of Speaker and Abraham Kesupile for the position of Deputy Speaker. After the conclusion of the infamous “hands up” or “lehenza” court case, the duo competed against President Ian Khama and the ruling party’s favorite candidates, Gladys Kokorwe and Kagiso Molatlhegi. The latter won as is common knowledge.

The Constitution of the Republic of Botswana provides in Section 59 that “There shall be a Speaker of the National Assembly who shall be elected by the Members of the Assembly from among persons who are Members of the Assembly or from among persons who are not members of the Assembly…” it is provided further that the President, Ministers and their Assistants are not entitled to be elected as Speaker or Deputy. Section 60 provides that “There shall be a Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly who shall be elected from among the persons who are Members of the Assembly other than the President, the Vice President, Ministers or Assistant Ministers”.

The Speaker is a symbolic head of the legislature elected by Parliament to preside over any sitting of the institution. The Speaker, assisted by the Deputy Speaker monitors the conduct of MPs including making rulings of the appropriateness or otherwise of the conduct of MPs and may sanction MPs through suspensions, cautions and or reprimand.

 The Speaker has to ensure order and decorum in the House. He or she enforces the Standing Orders of Parliament and other related laws such as the ones on immunities powers and privileges and the law on conditions of service of MPs.

The Speaker chairs the General Assembly which is for all intends and purposes an all party caucus.

He or she is also responsible for allocation of MPs into committees in her role as Chairperson of the Committee of Selection.

The Speaker is a political head of administrative staff of Parliament and approves appointments, promotions, transfers etcetera in consultation with Clerk of the National Assembly who is the bureaucratic head of Parliament at the level of a Permanent Secretary. The Speaker chairs the Business Advisory Committee which is responsible for allocation of debating time for MPs, forecast and resolutions, prioritization of individual items and business, business forecast and review, select and compilation of Speaker’s rulings among other things.

 In addition to serving as the presiding officer of the House and other ceremonial duties, the Speaker has diplomatic roles as head of delegations to some inter-parliamentary bodies and liaison with other parliaments or bodies.

From the above, the importance of the office of the Speaker and the enormity of the task is apparent. The political impartiality of the Speaker is therefore a vital feature of the office. Transformative legislatures in developed democracies’ political impartiality of the Speaker and practices are desirable and worth emulating.

In Botswana and elsewhere, the implications of the Speakership has always been that it became acceptable, as stated above, that the governing party effectively chooses the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker amongst its ranks , and could expect his or her support. In the UK, Arthur Onslow, Speaker from 1728-1761, is revered for laying the foundation of the non-partisan Speaker model, a principle which became firmly established in the middle 19th century through Speakers who were admired and trusted across the political divide and had integrity. These Speakers created a new balance between the needs of government and opposition.

There have been media reports of some MPs complaining about the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. The latter has been accused of heavy-handedness and or iron fist kind of rule while the former has been fingered for political bias and vacillation in her rulings. Some of these accusations have been expressed by MPs in Parliament during their deliberations.

 While these accusations are not without merit, they must be taken within the context of a House that is not independent, lacks resources and with great organizational inertia for reform. There have been instances where the rulings of both the Speaker and her Deputy appeared inconsistent, unfair and unhelpful.

The Speakership unequal relationship between the Vice President and ministers and the Speaker is also an issue of concerns; the latter appear to be bosses in Parliament and the former are more like subordinates. There is subtle bullying, manipulation and arm-twisting of the Speakership by ministers and the Vice President. The subtlety of this practice makes it look like it is not there. 

The Speakership is the heart of the parliamentary system as it plays an important role in the healthy functioning of the House.

The fairest mindedness and integrity of the Speaker must be a deeply entrenched feature of Botswana’s parliamentary system. If the Speaker is biased, he or she cannot ensure order and decorum in the House.

In addition to other reforms to ensure the independence and more power of Parliament, we must have a system whereby the Speaker is the Leader of the House and not the Vice President.