Analysts, MPs have mixed reactions on Winter Parley
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday September 25, 2020 16:38
The analysts have noted that a major development is perhaps that Parliament was broadcast live, which gave the public an opportunity to be part of the parliamentary debates and see how their representatives performed in the House.. “There is completely nothing to write home about. This is the time that we had expected our Parliament to cooperate on issues affecting people especially during the pandemic, because people are losing jobs, companies are closing and our economy is going down. That is what other countries are doing, but here the story is different,” said a political analyst Lesole Machacha.
He added: “Unemployment is going to go high and that will not be good for the country. We had expected Parliament to discuss how they will inject money to revive the economy and to ensure that private companies do not collapse, but that issue was not addressed. Instead the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has been using its numbers to block important motions. We expected MPs to support each other for the best interest of Batswana”.
Machacha also said it was disappointing that some Ministers attended Parliament unprepared to answer questions from MPs. Machacha said even the behaviour that some Ministers exhibited is not acceptable, especially when MPs want to make follow up questions. “There is no seriousness at all in our Parliament. Look at how MP Pono Moathodi is reacting when he is suspended on allegations of a serious matter that is still before Court.
He is only concerned about himself. MPs at times take voters for granted.” Another analyst, political science lecturer, Keaoleboga Dipogiso, said Parliament has failed to address issues like citizen empowerment, unemployment, inequality, graduate unemployment and crime.
“This is the time for Parliament to have dealt with issues affecting people, because the pandemic has affected people so badly. If some of these issues go unresolved for long, crime rate in the country will also increase. Ministries must be able to go to people to sell programmes that could help to create jobs. Some of the good programmes are not implemented and ministers depend on information brought by their Permanent Secretaries,” Dipogiso said. However, BDP chief whip Liakiat Kablay said Winter Parliament has done well in terms of dealing with questions and answers, Motions and Bills that were passed. “I am very impressed by motions brought by MPs from both sides, because they were well researched. Only a few were deferred. Of course there were changes in Parliament, because the Speaker requested that MPs who wanted to comment on Bills and Motions should submit their names through the Whips, which is a new system.
The MPs were not happy with that procedure because some MPs kept on commenting on every issue, which led to some MPs not having enough time to make their contributions. We want the old procedure where we stand and the Speaker will pick one,” Kablay said.
He said some of the Bills that were passed would be able to help Batswana and currently the President has been signing some Bills into law. On other issue, Kablay said he was concerned about the attacks and counter-attacks that were happening between the Leader of the Opposition Dumelang Saleshando and the vice president Slumber Tsogwane.
“I have registered my compliant with advisory committee about the matter, because the society did not like the exchange of words between the two. In every sitting, Tsogwane and Saleshando were attacking each other and it was not looking good, because Parliament was live on national television.
Even if we differ, we must have a way of addressing each other in a constructive manner. But both Tsogwane and Saleshando have agreed to resolve their differences.
MPs can differ at General Assembly, but in Parliament we must debate issues and fail to agree in a good manner,” Kablay said in an interview.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) former whip, Pono Moatlhodi, said opposition MPs did well in this session and they were able to bring important motions that could benefit Batswana.
“Honestly, opposition MPs have brought motions like Gender Based Violence, Media Practitioners Act, Amendment of Prisons Act, one that calls for Wildlife officers to be given back their guns and the one that sought for the month of September to be declared a month of prayer for COVID-19. BDP MPs were in support of all of our motions, however they did not pass, because they were simply coming from our side. Our Parliament cannot be progressive because BDP MPs are not allowed to support anything that comes from opposition side regardless of how good it is,” Moatlhodi said.
He said he was also happy that they managed to put pressure on the Minister of Local Government to reverse suspension of Scorpions and now those people were working, including Ipelegeng ones. Moatlhodi also said that some ministers must drop their arrogance when answering MPs.