Before the Botswana Parliament delegation left for the UK, Masitara told The Monitor that while on the trip they are most interested in learning the extent to which Britain's parliamentary committees extend their investigations and examinations where public interest entities are concerned. He said this would be one of the best benchmarking exercises for strengthening Botswana Parliament. "Right now the United Nations is increasing pressure on parliamentary oversight to ensure they cap acts of corruption. We are particularly interested in understanding how the UK Parliament holds entities such as commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds, asset managers and we want to understand the extent to which the committees have the powers to probe these institutions because if they are not monitored, these are the institutions that can allow money laundering to thrive, in the absence of tougher oversight from institutions such as Parliament."
He further said: "We also want to learn how the UK Parliament makes ministers and top officials like CEO's and board of directors of public bodies accountable."While on the trip, the Botswana delegation will be introduced to the Westminster committee system. An official of the National Audit Office in the country will also present to the Botswana delegation on the oversight of central government accounts. There will also be a presentation on the public accounts committee.Moreover, the delegation will be taken through the Public Bodies Act, 2011. The Botswana leader of delegation hopes that exposure to this Public Bodies Act could interest Botswana Parliament with the view to coming up with a similar Act.
