Assistant Minister says Khama is neutralising former presidents

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Thursday November 25, 2010 00:00

 

He said President Ian Khama is loved by everybody and is the best president ever to lead the country. He said that people always scramble to shake hands with Khama during his visits to villages. He asserted that even some MPs fight to touch the president.

He said that the public would soon forget about former presidents because Khama's popularity has made them irrelevant.

The Assistant Minister was speaking in Parliament, in response to President Khama's State of the Nation address.

Meanwhile the Minister of Education, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi admitted that there are problems of harassment in schools, perpetrated by teachers, parents and students.

She said that parents need to be encouraged to show interest in their children's schoolwork.

She stated that some parents do not even know the names of their children's teachers.  But whenever the parents get angry after their children are punished, they are always quick to take the law into their hands against teachers.

She conceded that some teachers are so irresponsible and on Tuesday, a headmaster kicked a student from an examination room just because he was not wearing shoes.

The minister was not impressed at all because Tuesday's exam was the last one.

Venson-Moitoi called on opposition parties to desist from what she called hijacking of trade unions, whose mandate is to speak for the rights of workers.

She said she would carry out her own investigations into the behaviour of teachers, which impacted badly on the smooth running of the Junior Certificate and BGCSE examinations. She admitted that there is an acute shortage of accommodation for teachers and government is doing something to solve the problem.

The minister believes that the Constitution of Botswana needs a review but she is against individuals who only complain about presidential powers.

She said the review of the constitution should be done with sober and neutral minds instead of satisfying individual needs.