SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
FRANCISTOWN: Parliament has become dysfunctional due to President Ian Khama’s failure to address MP questions on issues of national interest.
This is according to Francistown West MP, Ignatius Moswaane, who was addressing a Workers Day commemoration in Francistown recently. The outspoken legislator said attempts to get Khama to address parliament on national issues has fallen flat, and it has been left to ministers who he says give “half-baked answers” in their attempt to fill the void.
The problem, Moswaane determined, was Khama’s unwillingness to account to parliament, something he says has made it difficult for MPs to execute its mandate. “As the president of this country, he is also the number 1 civil servant who has the responsibility of accounting to parliament and the nation at large. Therefore, there is need for Khama to once dedicate some hours to parliament to address questions and issues of national interest that has been brought by the MPs. So Khama’s continuous failure to come and address MPs questions has made it unfit and dysfunctional to execute its core mandate,” Moswaane told The Botswana Gazette explaining how they struggle to advocate for the nation as their concerns are always left unattended.
He however also blamed parliament’s failure to address issues on some MPs who he says are bootlickers. “As the parliament, we end up failing the nation because some of the MP’s have been tamed leading to self-oppression. This also makes it difficult for them to liberate themselves and even advocate for their welfare,” he said.
Moswaane shocked in BDP colleagues two years ago when he, through an urgent motion, summoned Khama to address parliament. While the motion was defeated by his party, it was the example of his tendency to chart his own path against the party line, something which BDP rarely do. The MP has in the past said that he was in parliament to serve the interest of his constituents and not certain “demigods”.