Ministers kill Saleshando motion

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Tuesday March 16, 2010 00:00

 

The opposition was solidly behind the motion, voting en bloc in affirmation of it.

All ministers in the House on Friday voted against the motion, while some backbenchers voted with their feet by staying outside the House while voting took place. One of them said they could not stay to vote against an issue so close to their hearts.

Responding to comments made by fellow MPs on the matter earlier, Saleshando said MPs were servants of the electorate, not vice versa.

He was directing his response particularly to the member for Maun West, Kgosi Tawana Moremi, who had said he did not want the electorate to know about his wealth.

Saleshando said unlike in chieftainship, MPs were the subjects of the electorate and Tawana should learn to live with that. Kgosi Tawana was a member of Ntlo ya Dikgosi before quitting to join politics.

Saleshando said he was disappointed that MPs of the ruling party were unable to support him because they had been instructed not to do so by the executive, yet they often complained that Parliament was not independent.

In their eagerness to match the living standards of ministers, BDP legislators chose to ignore their constitutional mandate as members of an oversight body over the executive, he said. He added that he had noticed that some BDP backbenchers were waiting with the hope of one day being appointed ministers, and had abdicated their duty as representatives of the  people. Saleshando said he would lobby the public and civil society to support his cause for a credible voluntary disclosure before the end of the year. Turning his attention to the vice-president, Saleshando said Mompati Merafhe's recent utterances showed that BDP leaders were not committed to declaring their assets.

The VP recently said Saleshando was trying to steal the limelight from the BDP through the motion, remarks which prompted a public outcry about the VP's leadership credentials.