Africa-Press – Botswana. Parliament will resume tomorrow to examine the Constitution Amendment Bill of 2024 clause by clause at a committee stage.
This comes after Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng’s response to the debates on the Bill, after which he requested that it be assigned to a committee stage tomorrow to allow legislators from both the aisles to appreciate the noticed amendment clauses.
Prior to assigning the Bill to a committee stage, Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere, tabled a motion to suspend the process but requested Parliament to form a Parliament select committee which would further look into the Bill.
Mr Tshere argued that the select committee should be given time to reflect on the submissions and points of arguments on the Bill from all legislators and consult the public, civil society groups and other stakeholders in order to come up with a position that would guide the amendments on the Constitution.
However, the motion was defeated after a vote was put following a short debate where 30 MPs voted against it, 10 supported it while one abstained.
Minister Morwaeng explained that Mr Tshere’s motion was not acceptable at this stage because forming a select committee was tantamount to constituting another commission on the review of the Constitution.
Therefore, he said the public would still be afforded opportunity to share their insights on the Constitution in the form of a referendum.
Meanwhile, the Constitution Amendment Bill was presented before the National Assembly on May 20 for second reading.
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