Last week Thursday, marked a sad day in the history of human rights. Parliament rejected all amendments aimed at ensuring that being HIV positive does not take away one's dignity. Parliament decided to entrench the violation of human rights, even more so, the rights of those living with HIV. The level of debate was shocking, Members of Parliament followed their party positions and not principles.
The Minister of Health himself, who couldn't keep his eyes off the notes he read, was visibly not sure of what he was pushing for. He just came to decline amendments, without engaging.At various occasions he was called on to deal with questions on the floor, but rather resorted to reading his notes at the expense of not dealing with what was at hand.I could not help but drown my head in the sand by hearing 'honourable' legislators from the ruling party argue that forcing people to test for HIV is the way to go for Batswana. In their infinite wisdom, we should all know our status even at the expense of using force.
