Africa-Press – Botswana. Member of Parliament for Shashe West, Mr Fidelis Molao says the Constitution is a living document that keeps responding to life experiences hence its amendment is in order.
Contributing to the debate on the Constitution Amendment Bill of 2024 in Parliament on Monday, Mr Molao said the comprehensive review of the Constitution was meant to suit the times that people lived in while some amendments addressed the past experiences.
“The Bill before us wants to respond to such and does not necessarily target anyone. It is meant to regulate us and not specific people for good order and good governance. The idea is not to completely overhaul the Constitution, but to improve it,” he said. The Shashe West legislator also backed the proposed increase of specially elected MPs to 10, saying it was meant for diversity of skills in the National Assembly.
However, he said he had reservations about Section 68 which allowed removing a sitting member from office for misbehaviour, saying that should be referred to public in the form of a referendum because members were elected by the people.
He argued that the idea of direct election of the President should not be a stand-alone clause because it called for changing the political system, adding the First-Past-The-Post system had served Batswana well.
For his part, Palapye MP, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi told Parliament that some denominations such as Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana (EFB) believed that intersex persons should not be discriminated against because they had some form of disability. Mr Ramogapi said the EFB had reservations that the clause referring to the intersex persons allowed room for abuse of the law because some people may choose to be in between the two genders (male or female).
The MP said he was against special election of MPs because that came with high overheads for the five years that they would be in office. He added that the budget for provision of such special election of MPs, councillors and members of land boards was a costly exercise.
Mr Ramogapi also differed with proposed amendments for the President to submit nominees for position of Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) secretary position and nominees for the positions of Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal.
He also warned that removal of a sitting member from office for misbehaviour was not a good move. Furthermore, he said the establishment of councils should be included in the Constitution, as well as independence of IEC and Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
He also called for unionisation of armed forces such as Directorate of Intelligence and Security, Botswana Defence Force and Botswana Police Service. Mr Ramogapi proposed that the Bill be rejected.
The Constitution Amendment Bill of 2024 was tabled by Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng for second reading on May 20, following recommendations by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana after countrywide consultations in 2022.
DAILYNEWS
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