MPs slap Masisi, Tsogwane with demands
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Just like their predecessors, members of the 12th parliament have renewed their quest for improved conditions of service and are pushing President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi and his assistant, Slumber Tsogwane against the wall to accede to their demands as a matter of urgency.
The request comes as a follow-up from last year, when the legislators got a 4 percent salary hike, delinking members of the National Assembly from the public service structure, hence increasing their earnings by 11 percent. Legislators made sharp demands to the president’s appointed commission that was intended to review legislators’ salaries and conditions of service. Among the demands, apart from salary hike, Members of Parliament wanted to be given P500 000 each at the beginning of their parliamentary term. This they say was going to avert dependency on donors and will enable them to service electorates.
The MPs demand to be given P500 000 each at the beginning of their parliamentary term was shot down by President Masisi, and the second demand (car scheme) was deferred thus it has now resurfaced with much dynamism. The legislators now want the government to ensure that they have vehicles to use at their respective constituencies.
The proposal is in such a way that the government pays 50 percent of the cost of the vehicle and the remaining 50 percent is settled by the MP. The lawmakers say, this is practiced in many countries including Zambia and Kenya. This week the BDP backbenchers gathered again to fine-tune the proposal before handing it to Tsogwane and Masisi next week.
“We have discussed it and we agreed, but for now we are only waiting to submit it to the leadership. It is not the first time, we discussed this in the past parliament and we hope our request will not fall on deaf ears,” BDP’s Liakat Kablay who was in the MPs welfare committee told this publication. The legislators’ contention is motivated by the fact that Ministers are given two cars to use on official duties, while MPs are only availed a car transporting them from their residences to parliament. They also want an official car to discharge their duties with ease.
“We are only pinning our hopes on BDP members and its leadership especially a general assembly so that we can demonstrate how this is key to us. But honestly speaking we need the cars, we are struggling at our constituencies. It is always disheartening when the President visits us and we have to do patch up jobs transport wise. But we are very optimistic that the request will see the light of day,” said Pono Moatlhodi, who is UDC Parliamentary Reforms and Cultural Sector Spokesperson.
The proposal is welcomed by MPs from both sides of the aisle. They are of the view that apart from Ministers, they are rendered subordinates to Mayors and Council leaders who are given official cars. Meanwhile Maun East legislator Goretetse Kekgonegile, said law makers should look this demand from a broader and long term perspective.
“We should be far-sighted with this. To me it should not be about the car being mine, but rather I would advocate for a constituency office car, that would stay there and continues to do the work even when I am attending parliament business,” he said.
“To be honest, we are struggling as we use our own cars and fuel them as you may know our terrain is very hard, it needs special cars.” The legislators, especially ring-leaders from the BDP, are spirited and confident that they will emerge victorious at the end of the day.
The MPs are resolute to an extent that they are prepared to push the President against the wall using their numbers. “We might be forced to also come up with a motion to slash president’s benefits and or luxury that he enjoys and that of his Vice, because they would be failing to put themselves in our shoes, though they know the struggle,” one BDP legislator said this week.
“We have a very big problem especially during consultative Kgotla meetings, council leadership and other officials will be in their official cars while an MP, you would be stranded in your not so honourable car and it is not right. The conditions in our constituencies are so bad and with the little we get it is difficult to afford those cars,” lamented Serowe North MP, Baratiwa Mathoothe in an interview.
Last year the BDP MPs had the privilege to discuss this in the presence of President Masisi. Apart from the 50-50 vehicle scheme, MPs also want the government to implement the agreed decision to give former MPs 20 percent of the current lawmakers’ salary as living allowance. This however appears to be a pie in the sky as senior government officials have repeatedly said, this would be double-dipping. Calculations were done in such a manner that the former legislators will get P8000 a month for a life time.
“We are told that the public pay structure does not cater for us, thus we will get the incentive only after the law has been passed by parliament which will be the next session. This is to also create a scale for us, that is what we have been told anyway,” Association of Former MPs Vice President, David Magang told this publication when this was deferred.
He continued; “Of course we are disappointed as former legislators because we anticipated that by now we will be getting something so that we can live a dignified life as you might know that most of us are struggling. We will wait for government to create that structure in the public system and we are adamant that the 12th parliament will address that because our numbers keep on increasing. Some will not be returning back after the elections,” he said.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.