- Posits that Batswana should have been given a chance to partake in selection of commissioners
- “Magosi complained that Batswana were not consulted in 1965 and we are repeating the mistake”
TEFO PHEAGE
Kgosi Mosadi Seboko of BaLete says her question to the Office of the President of why the nation was not consulted on the constitutional review process to give them an opportunity to participate in the selection of the commissioners was provoked by a parochial approach to the process by the government despite calls for wide consultation.
According to the Order Paper of Ntlo ya Dikgosi, Kgosi (Mosadi) Seboko will ask the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration why, Botswana being a democratic country, the government did not see it fit and proper for the nation to be consulted on the constitutional review so that they (may) contribute and put their views forward in the selection of the people to head the review.
The traditional sovereign of BaLete raises her question at a time when most key stakeholders are up in arms with the Office of the President for a parochial approach to the process in which President Mokgweetsi Masisi alone chose the commissioners and for ignoring calls for wider consultations before and after he named the commissioners just before Christmas last year.
In an interview with The Botswana Gazette, Kgosi Mosadi said she was shocked when she realised that Batswana were being reduced to mere spectators in a sensitive and important process of their country’s constitutional review.
“If you recall well, in 1965 it was magosi who complained that Batswana were not consulted when the constitution was drafted,” she pointed out. “It does not make sense to me that we should repeat the mistake of the colonial masters by excluding Batswana even in this day and era. I do not think it is right for us as magosi to sit back and watch despite the glaring evidence of lack of consultation in such a serious matter.”
She emphasised that a constitutional review must necessarily entail a national dialogue that should lead to a national consensus. “How are we to remedy historic injustices without opening the process to key stakeholders and the nation? I do not think anybody wants to embark on a journey without a purpose. I just want to understand and advise where I can. That’s all,” the sovereign of BaLete said.
Kgosi Mosadi said as custodians of merafe and constitutionally empowered citizens, magosi have a role to play in defending and promoting the interests of Batswana.