- Says Parliament, civil society and constitutional experts were sidelined by the process
- Undertakes to issue a comprehensive position paper on the report “soon”
TEFO PHEAGE
There was nothing much to expect from the recently released Constitutional Review Report because key stakeholders like Parliament, civil society and constitutional experts were sidelined by the process, the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) has said.
Speaking at the opening of the legal year this week, the Chairman of LSB, Osego Garebamono, said because of the commission’s lack of direction and due to lack of education about what a constitution is and is not, LSB was left to stray in making its submissions.
“The Society has studied the recently published Report of the Constitutional Review Commission,” he said to an audience that included President Mokgweetsi Masisi. “In this regard we would like to make these preliminary observations:
“We did not agree with the manner of appointment of the Commission as we believed that the process of seeking a new constitutional consensus should have been as broad-based as possible, bringing in expertise from civil society as well as from constitutional scholars and practitioners.
Poor job
“The nation itself could have benefitted from a more educational approach. What has clearly come to the fore is that we have done a poor job of educating the people of this country on what a constitution is and what it is not.
“As a result, the report often strays into matters which have nothing to do with its mandate or the constitution and therefore reinforcing the public’s confusion and ignorance.”
Garebamono disclosed that LSB will finalise a position paper which will detail its comprehensive thoughts on the report “soon”.