Africa-Press – Botswana. The Southern Africa Development Community Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (SADCOPAC) has been implored to partner with government in its journey of transformation.
Welcoming members of the SADCOPAC during a courtesy call in Gaborone, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse said SADCOPAC was in the country at a time when it was undergoing transformation, which came as a result of change of power.
For many years, he said Botswana was revered for having sustained multiparty democracy system without back-sliding to undemocratic systems such as one party state and military rule and never postponed elections.
However, he said Botswana’s democracy for the past 58 years when measured by applying profound yardsticks had not been immune to problem in relation to the independence of Parliament, judiciary and institutions that supported democracy such as the Independent Electoral Commission, Ombudsman and the anti-corruption unit.
Mr Keorapetse, who is also former Treasurer and Secretary General of the SADCOPAC, said SADCOPAC was an important partner to the PAC as its objectives was to ensure that there were standards for PAC committees in the SADC region as well as to infuse best practices in the committees.
On the training that will be conducted by SADCOPAC, he said a number of countries in the region had benefited immensely from training offered by SADCOPAC and its other initiatives.
SADCOPAC chairperson, who is also PAC chairperson in Zambia, Mr Warren Mwambazi, said the committee had travelled across the region fostering capacity building and benchmarking.
He further said SADCOPAC looked forward to the training as it was also a platform to share ideas on how Parliament of Botswana through PAC carried its mandate of providing oversight to the executive as well as other jurisdictions and came up with best practices to foster accountability.
He also pointed out that SADCOPAC was determined to partner with new administration on its journey of transformation.
PAC chairperson, Mr Taolo Lucas said they looked forward to the training that would not only be for PAC committee member but would also include other Parliamentary committees such as finance and estimates and trade.
“We are looking forward to the participation of all and share insights on how the regional body works,” he said.
The committee will hold governance meeting, peer review programme and training of the PAC members and other committees supporting PAC.
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