INSIDE THE PRESIDENCY FOR 9-5-14: KHAWA, COMMONWEALTH CONFERENCE AND SADC RESPONDS Welcome once more to your weekly window into events and issues involving the Presidency. Today H.E. the President, Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama, will be convening a joint meeting of Cabinet Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to discuss the latest round of Performance Reviews. Such meetings are held on both a quarterly and extraordinary basis with the objective of overcoming persistent issues hindering performance improvement. Tomorrow, President Khama will be in Selebi-Phikwe where he is expected to have the opportunity to meet with local residents for candid feedback about their concerns. The major public event on the President’s calendar was his participation in last weekend’s Khawa Dune Challenge and Cultural Festival, which once served as a golden opportunity for the Khawa Kopanelo Development Trust and other stakeholders to showcase the potential of sports and cultural tourism in the Kgalagadi District. The event also served to raise money for various worthy causes. In this respect His Excellency was able to add to the philanthropic largesse when he auctioned off his first prize for having once more won the 27 kilometre leisure quad-bike race for P 10,000, which he donated to the Trust. While at Khawa the President also had the pleasure of witnessing the handover of twenty new houses to destitute residents. During the handover he complimented Dikgang Publishers, for donating beds and bedding for seven of the houses, while urging them to contribute more. At the handover it was further revealed that Government has set aside P 250,000 to set up a local sand blocks project in the District under the Poverty Eradication Programme. The project is expected to provide local building materials to expedite the construction of more houses in the area, while proving employment. For his part the Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, the Honourable David Toto, commended President Khama for taking the initiative in introducing the event to Khawa. He recalled that a few years back the President had visited the village where he had engaged with members of the local community on the economic challenges they faced, which had planted the seed for what has since grown into an annual extravaganza. Vice President This week Gaborone has also been hosting the Commonwealth Meeting of Law Ministers and Senior Officials. As the keynote speaker at Monday’s Conference opening His Honour the Vice President, Dr. Ponatshego Kedikilwe, observed that the theme of the meeting “Consolidating Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Commonwealth” was certainly relevant as issues of the rule of law and human rights are currently topical among the various jurisdictions that make up the organisation. He further noted that besides being a fundamental Commonwealth value, respect for the rule of law was a prerequisite for economic and human development, as well as effective and accountable governance. He therefore pleaded with the delegates to focus on achieving specific goals that will further consolidate respect for the rights and dignity of Commonwealth citizens. He went on the affirm that the independence of the judiciary is also a necessary ingredient to achieve increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and more developed credit markets because of the assurance of the stability of dispute resolution processes. The proper implementation of the rule of law is thus widely considered to affect comparative economic competitiveness of individual Member States. The Vice President observed that Botswana, like other Commonwealth countries is engaged in revising its laws and statutory legislation to cater for emerging legal challenges such as those brought about by the rapid expansion of online business and communications. Botswana has made strides in this regard, which include the drafting of new legislation in the areas of anti-human trafficking; cyber crime and related crimes; environmental management; proceeds and instrument of crime; counter-terrorism and financing of terrorist act, amongst others. SADC responds Also this past week the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on behalf of Government as a whole, confirmed that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, through correspondence dated 24th April 2014, has responded to the concerns raised by Botswana following the 2013 Harmonised Elections in Zimbabwe. Further to the above, Government noted with appreciation that the issues it had raised have since been submitted for consideration at a Stakeholders Review Conference on the conduct of the 2013 elections that had been convened by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in late March 2014. The findings of the said Review Conference were in the main in line with Botswana’s consistent position that there were some irregularities during the preparation and conduct of the 2013 Harmonised Elections and that measure should be put in place to avoid a repeat of the same in future elections. In the context of the above response, Government now feels that it has made its point on the principle of the importance of SADC member states and institutions collectively upholding the organisations guidelines for the conduct of elections. Botswana will therefore be once more prepared to participate in SADC Electoral Observer Missions.
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 09:14:55 +0000
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