Africa-Press – Botswana. Boko implores tourism industry to guide lawmakers ahead of legislative reforms
President Adv. Duma Boko has issued a clarion call to stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industry to assist Members of Parliament (MPs) with legislative ideas ahead of the next parliamentary session focused on law-making.
When officially opening the 2025 Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) annual conference in Maun, Boko urged industry players to equip MPs with accurate, practical insights, noting that the upcoming winter session of Parliament- from July to August- will prioritise legislative reform.
“The Member of Parliament for this area, when he speaks on matters of tourism and what legislative reforms must take place, must speak with authority deriving from the information and the guidance he would have received from all of you, so when he stands up in Parliament to speak, he is but your trumpet voice presenting issues, ideas, that he obtained from yourselves. He therefore becomes your spokesperson. That is what I want to hear from him in the next Parliament which is when the laws are going to be made,” Boko said.
“I will hold you responsible if he fails. You’ll have failed him, so you need to learn and engage with him, give him ideas, prepare him thoroughly for debate in Parliament. Give him all the information that he will need as he engages in the process of reforming the very laws that you are complaining about.”
Drawing from his legal expertise, Boko referenced the historical 1584 Heydon’s Case, also known as the Mischief Rule.
He explained that changing any existing law begins with understanding the current legal landscape, identifying existing problems, proposing suitable solutions, and ensuring these reforms meet intended objectives. “In America, they call it ends-means calculus,” Boko explained.
Boko however, warmed that the process often breaks down when it comes to devising solutions. “It gets murky. Politicians choose to confuse themselves. A lot of them, because they come with the arrogance of thinking that whatever they say is the gospel truth. It actually is not, never is,” he said, further dismissing rigid strategies. “It is not about blueprints, I have said. It is about pathways. We explore, we examine, we probe the options available to us at any given point in time.”
Acknowledging that many MPs including himself are not experts on matters of tourism and specific challenges of people living together with wildlife, Boko urged for deeper collaboration with those on the ground.
“And some of the folks have to sit and stand occasionally in Parliament to speak on these laws. They are not as much in the front lines like yourselves, so you carry a heavy obligation therefore of providing the raw data and facts that you must, to inform any attempt at legislative reform.”
The President also gave stakeholders permission to revive Tourism Pitso, an industry-wide engagement forum, and invited them to directly meet with him to engage on matters relating to travel, hospitality and tourism whenever they are ready.
A lawyer by profession Boko explained that he was in familiar territory when it comes to making, critiquing and changing laws. “And I look to you Industry participants and players, to inform and guide on what the challenges are because you are in the front lines, you are the ones feeling the brunt, perhaps more than myself and others.”
Tourism is the second largest generator of the country’s revenue after diamonds, but Boko believes the sector can surpass diamonds if proper systems are put in place.
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