Mmolotsi calls for radical changes in Governance

And redefine cabinet duties, responsibilities Let us copy from Finland- Mmolotsi

Member of Parliament for Francistown East, Wynter Mmolotsi this week called on the ruling BDP to make constitutional amendments that will allow the president to appoint cabinet from outside parliament.

Contributing on the State of the Nation Address, Mmolotsi accused government of failing to develop Botswana farther.

PUBLIC SERVICE

Mmolotsi suggested the setting up of a delivery unit in the public service and cited Malaysia’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit ( PEMANDU) as a perfect benchmark. He called for a switch to meritocracy and to ditch cadre development specifically in top government positions and key managerial positions. Cabinet must also deploy the best and brightest people. Mmolotsi accused BDP government of having shown an uncharacteristic appetite to overlook capable people to favour friends and relatives. He also called for haste in going the route of evidence- based policy making.

“We cannot continue to make decisions based on data that is five ( 5) to ( 10) years old when multiple shifts have happened and interventions undertaken are no longer effective”.

RUTHLESS

Mmolotsi called for a ruthless focus on quick wins and low- hanging fruits by improving the business environment and international competitiveness.

He said the country could start with setting up a unit to turn around the ease of doing business and competitiveness in the region and world stage. “This will assist greatly in attracting the much- needed funding”. The MP said that a rationalisation exercise for government structure, starting with the Office of the President ( OP) must be conducted at the soonest.

He said at present the OP is cluttered with too many departments to operate efficiently. “We need to run a lean government. We can do with less than 10 ministries”, he said citing Finland and Sweden which have only 14 ministers and are believed to be among the best run in the world.

Sweden has a population of more than 10 million while Botswana has just 2 million people.

“We need to urgently review and redefine the duties and responsibilities of Cabinet as provided for by the Constitution,” he said.

As if a reminder to President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, Mmolotsi said appointments to Cabinet should not be limited to Parliament tenure, but should be determined by performance and not electoral cycle.

“We need to nurture a strong working Local government system by decentralising responsibilities and resources to councils to enable them to implement development projects on time and on budget”, he said.

Briefing the media in 2018, President Masisi said he is considering reviewing the constitution to enable cabinet members to be appointed from outside parliament.

Mmolotsi also touched on the imperative of removing key oversight institutions - Ombudsman, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime ( DCEC), Auditor General and others- from the OP to ensure they are directly accountable to Parliament.

“We need to amend Acts of these institutions to ensure that they comply with international best practice. This is critical in fighting corruption and malice that greatly negates economic growth”.

He said Botswana cannot set on a path of high income status if we do not immediately overhaul the constitution to make it tool for transformation.

“We are in this mess together because our constitutional architecture allows the executive branch, and more precisely, allows the president to govern alone and with zero accountability.

“The President has now moved to rule as a Monarch for a year empowered by the State of Public Emergency forced into the nation on the basis of the numbers rather than any reasonable submissions on why the State of Emergency is necessary”.

He said Masisi has since his inauguration in 1st April 2018 been making promises to review the constitution.

“More than two years later we still hear of the exact same promise with no progress whatsoever”, except conflicting communication from the government, he cried. In the last sitting of parliament the minister said the process of reviewing the constitution would start in November 2020, “but the President says next year”, Mmolotsi observed. He promised that once in power, Alliance for Progressives, will lead a process of an open participatory and peoples’ driven constitutional review and amendment. He said this would be done in accordance with our democratic norms and ideals to reflect the aspirations of our nation and guarantee the rule of law, proper management of public resources, a clear separation of powers and adherence to accountability and transparency.

Mmolotsi complained that the Constitution gives the President excessive and unchecked power, and ensures that he or she is accountable to no one but himself or herself.

“We cannot continue with this setup. Parliamentary oversight has been reduced to nothing as Parliament itself is a department under the OP,” he fumed.

He said the independence of Parliament and of the Judiciary is undermined as the two branches of government act as junior partners to the executive branch, failing in every possible measure to hold the Executive branch to account for anything.

“In fact, both branches take instructions from the OP. This is a shameful state of affairs and a clear violation of the doctrine of separation of powers”. He said the AP will implement a process that reflects the interests of the people by involving as many stakeholders as possible. “We will over the next few months, kick- start a process to draw up general Constitutional principles that will guide and facilitate the process of public participation for the Constitutional review,” he said.

IEC

Mmolotsi said the Independent Electoral Commission ( IEC) image and reputation have been damaged by their perceived dependence on the OP. “We cannot continue to have an electoral body that takes instructions from OP”, he said and suggested that in order to rehabilitate and guarantee the independence of and maximise the efficiency of the IEC, the IEC office must be removed from the supervision of the OP to account directly to Parliament.

He advocated that the appointment of the IEC Secretary be done by a Select Committee of Parliament and not the President alone.

The Secretary must have security of tenure of office for IEC to perform its duties without fear or favour and impartially. “We want an electoral body that is politically and financially independent to conduct the elections. The Electoral Act should be overhauled to provide for electoral court that deals specifically with electoral disputes.”