Of leaders, politicians and the electorate will
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
FRANCISTOWN: A recent Mmegi Facebook poll involving over 27,000 participants found out that 83% of the people wanted President Mokgweetsi Masisi to enact the State of Emergency (SoE) for at 28 days. This majority marginally outvoted the 17% of people that wanted the SoE to last for six months as proposed by Masisi in a bid to fight the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
When Parliament recently endorsed the six-month period for the SoE in order to control the spread of the coronavirus, the decision became a bitter pill to swallow to some sections of the country.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse, has this week rightly washed his hands of the mess, refusing to wade into a party squabble that has no clear leadership and no single version of the truth.When a single party sends six different letters to the Speaker’s office, each claiming to be the authoritative voice, it is not just confusion, but an embarrassment.Keorapetse is correct to insist on institutional boundaries. Parliament...