Ntlo ya Dikgosi should be our House of Lords

Kgosi Khama draping Kgosi Kgafela with a legendary leopard skin
Kgosi Khama draping Kgosi Kgafela with a legendary leopard skin

When Botswana gained independence in 1966, after close to century of British colonisation, not only did she inherit the Colonial laws, it also adopted Westminster political system. The system Botswana is still clinging to today. Isn’t it time, half a century after independence, that we upgrade our laws and institutions the Westminster way? Wonders BAME PIET

We use the First-Past-the-Post electoral system, which allows the party with majority elected members to automatically take  government. Assuming power is irrespective of the percentage of voters the majority party gets, as all it needs is 50 percent of the seats in Parliament.

The Westminster system has the House of Commons, an equivalent of Botswana’s House of National Assembly, or Parliament. Our colonial masters also have the House of Lords, which in our case, could be the Ntlo ya Dikgosi, which was for a long time before indigenising the name in the early 2000s  was known as House of Chiefs.

Editor's Comment
Our digital safety is in our hands

That sounds like good news. But the report also warns that this may simply be because our digital economy is still young, not because we are safe. As more people shop, bank and pay online, criminals will follow.We Batswana do not need a report to tell us that danger is real. Many of us have heard of or fallen victim to KYC scams. A caller impersonates your bank or mobile money provider. They say they need to “verify” your account. They ask...

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