New Parliament committee takes charge

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Tuesday September 20, 2011 00:00

 

Addressing journalists yesterday, members of the committee led by Member of Parliament (MP) for Gaborone West North, Robert Masitara, also announced that from next year, the proceedings will be held in public.

'This committee in its resolve to discharge its duty to Parliament and the nation, plans to further leverage its examinations process in the coming year, by conducting its hearings in public, where members of the public and journalists will attend the conduct of the operations and the management of their state corporations, to gain insight into whether or not the duty of trust and stewardship vested upon them and those charged with management, is being appropriately discharged,' Masitara said.

The committee said its examination process heralds a new season for the duty to account to Parliament and the nation, by the state corporations and those charged with their mandate.

The committee stated that it has invoked the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act whereof it may summon any persons to appear before it or call for any documents or papers to be submitted to it.

'The willful failure to answer to the committee's summons, attracts the censure of the law, in terms of the provisions of the aforestated Act of Parliament, as this would constitute a contempt to the Parliament of Botswana,' Masitara said.

Witnesses appearing before the committee swear to an oath prior to giving their evidence, undertaking that the evidence they give before the committee is trustworthy. If it is established later that the testimony given by an officer was false, such officer may face criminal charges for perjury.

'This development is a deliberate intervention by Parliament to ensure that the process of accountability to Parliament by any persons summoned to appear before it or any of its committees, is accorded the necessary seriousness it deserves, as this is a process meant to ensure accountability by all and indeed also our state corporations to the citizens of our country to whom state corporations belong,' said the MPs. They added that the CEOs will have to justify their huge salaries and why they should retain in their jobs.

The committee is scheduled to release its report either during the November Parliament session or in February next year, but they have already established that some state corporations have not been complying with the laws of the country for decades without notice. The members stated that so far they have not encountered any problems with officers coming forward to explain their documents.

Other members of the committee are Odirile Motlhale, Mephato Reatile, Raynor Makosha and Phillip Khwae as well as the Parliamentary Legal Advisor Thebe Ramokhua and Advisor to Parliamentary Financial Committee, Phillip Mutambara.

Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has in the past lobbied for holding its proceedings in public but it met resistance from the executive.