Africa-Press – Botswana. Minister for State President has commended Members of Parliament for backing the Political Parties Funding Bill which seeks to provide for regulation ad funding of political parties in Botswana.
Responding to contributions by legislators on the Bill on Tuesday, Honourable Kabo Morwaeng said funding of political parties was a good development that could be built on as long as the economy allowed.
Mr Morwaeng said government could not promise to fund political parties until it certain that it was affordable.
He said the Bill was a product of consultations between political parties and also what the general populace had requested.
“It is commendable that for years, parties have been committed to exercising democracy,” he said.
On pre-election funding, Minister Morwaeng said such was still debatable among legislators as every registered party would have to be funded.
“Our wish was that funding should start with these elections, but we heeded advice that it should be for the 2029 elections to dispel the thinking that the ruling party was tailoring it for its own advantage.
The other argument is that this will encourage mushrooming of many small political parties,” he said. The minister said although it was possible to fund independent candidates, it was risky as it might be difficult to have them account for the funds.
On creating a democracy fund as suggested by some MPs, Mr Morwaeng said the issue would be looked into.
Mr Morwaeng also concurred with other legislators that the law would enhance democracy and therefore promised them that going forward, their contributions on the Bill would be taken into consideration.
Earlier, contributing to the debate, His Honour, vice president Slumber Tsogwane argued that even though political party funding was an important factor in enhancing democracy, it was not a priority over the years owing to other pressing national needs.
Mr Tsogwane indicated that when the country got independence, poverty levels were so high, hence priority was on projects meant to emancipate people, such as rural development and social benefits for disadvantaged groups such as people living with disabilities.
“We have since implemented some of our top priorities and even moved on to newer ones such as water distribution and infrastructure, and priorities now allow that we move to even more others such as political party funding,” he said.
This, he said was mainly because assessment of the economy showed that political party funding could now be sustainable, while the country’s democracy had also matured.
Mr Tsogwane also said political party funding was not the only measure of a good democracy as Botswana had been a shining example even in the absence of such funding. He commended government for what he said was prudent spending and sticking to National Development Plans over the years.
For his part, Maun West legislator, Mr Dumelang Saleshando said even though the Bill was welcome, it should also allow parties to seek funding from international donours.
“There are international donors such as the Westminster Foundation where parties such as the BCP, BNF and the BDP have sought funds, and the Bill should not prohibit that provision, but only regulate how much money can come into the country through such avenues,” Mr Saleshando said.
He said keeping private funding in check was also vital as private donors always had self-interest motive, therefore might want to influence government.
“This is why all private funding should be transparent,” he said.
Mr Saleshando was also of the idea that there should be a clause that prohibited change of the Political Party Funding Act just before elections to prevent enactment of self-interest serving laws.
He also appreciated the Bill for not pre-determining how much each party would get, but leaving that to Batswana to determine through a vote.
Mochudi East, Mr Mabuse Pule supported Selebi Phikwe West legislator, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse’s suggestion on the establishment of a democracy fund, saying that it would allow promoters of democracy to be more involved.
Mr Pule said even though important, the reason why the Bill took long to come before Parliament was because the economy did not allow.
“Even now the funding is not enough, but it is our hope that it will improve with time as the economy grows,” he said.
Ngami legislator, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama said the Bill would answer observer missions’ concerns that elections in Botswana were ‘free but not fair’.
“Lack of fairness was in that opposition parties lacked financial muscle and resources, so this Bill will go a long way in addressing that,” he said.
He added that it would also help to address what he said was abuse of public resources by the ruling party.
Moshupa MP, Mr Karabo Gare dispelled reservations by some legislators for parties to be audited by the Auditor General.
“Numbers never lie and there is no way of cooking proper books. My advice to political parties is that they should engage registered accountants to help them implement the fund,” he said.
Ghanzi South legislator, Mr Motsamai Motsamai said the Bill, though he supported it, was apparently lacking on failure to accommodate independent candidates.
He said had the Bill come earlier, Botswana would now be addressing other issues that sought to improve the electoral process.
“Countries that used to look up to us in as far as the democratic process is concerned have now overtaken us, and it is a pity that some of the projects the ruling party labelled top priority than this law, are now underutilised,” he said.
Mr Motsamai said he had wished that funds would be disbursed instantly to assist parties to prepare for the impending general elections billed for October.
Meanwhile, the Bill is set to go for committee stage where it would be dealt with clause by clause.
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