The Acting Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Pono P. P. Moatlhodi this morning, received the Ambassador of Ukraine to Botswana, H.E. Ms. Liubov Abravitova on a courtesy call. When welcoming the Ambassador to Parliament, the Acting Speaker introduced the role of the Parliament of Botswana as well as its composition. He further shared about Ntlo ya Dikgosi as the other House of Parliament.

H.E. Ms. Liubov Abravitova shared that, the President of Ukraine has decided to open an Embassy in Botswana stating that an official request has already been done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She said they are hoping to have a permanent resident Ambassador in Gaborone in the near future. She explained that the resident Ambassador and the Embassy team will not only take care of the political dialogues but also about some other cooperation particularly in Agriculture and ICT sectors as they have already been identified as areas of cooperation between Ukraine and Botswana.

The Ambassador further said bilateral relations have to consist of different aspects indicating that the inter-parliamentary relations are important. She informed the Acting Speaker that Botswana was identified as an important partner some time ago and that in 2020, a group of friendship in Ukraine Parliament was established to stimulate relations with the Parliament of Botswana. She said they are very much eager to bring a delegation of Members of Parliament from Ukraine to Botswana.

The Acting Speaker assured her that the Parliament of Botswana is looking forward to receiving and engaging with the Ukraine Members of Parliament.

The media has been called upon to ensure accurate and balanced reporting of Parliament proceedings. The call was made by the Acting Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Pono P. P. Moatlhodi during a media briefing held this morning.

The Acting Speaker said since the media was well positioned to keep the public abreast of the parliament proceedings it was imperative to report accurate and balanced stories. He said where the media needed clarity the National Assembly’s Senior Management was always available.

Furthermore, Mr Moatlhodi informed the media that following the Budget Speech on 6th February, the House will proceed to deliberate on the general principles of the Appropriation Bill for a period of 10 days. He said subsequently the house will get into the Committee of Supply where the parliamentarians will get opportunity to deliberate on issues of different ministries. He stated that this is where suggestions can be requested provided the request has been noticed a week in advance.

The Acting Speaker said with effect from April 1st-16th the House will focus on Bills. He explained that His Honour the Vice President, who is also Leader of the House, Hon. Slumber Tsogwane has already submitted a list of Bills which will be debated in a prioritized manner.

The Acting Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Pono P. P. Moatlhodi received the Deputy Head of Mission from the Embassy of Canada in Harare Zimbabwe, Ms. Jessica Dawson this morning. The Embassy covers the Republic of Botswana.

When welcoming Ms. Dawson to the National Assembly of Botswana, Hon. Moatlhodi gave a brief summary on Parliament sharing how it is structured as well as the different meetings of Parliament. He further shared that our Parliament uses the Westminster’s model and that as a democratic country, Botswana holds free and fair elections every 5 years. Furthermore, the Acting Speaker stated that when Parliament is on recess, Parliament Committees meet and sit to perform their oversight function.

In her remarks, Ms. Jessica Dawson shared that the Parliamentary Systems for the two Parliaments are similar as they also use the Westminster’s model stating that like Botswana, Canada has free and fair regular elections. She said that the close relations between the two Parliaments is part of what brought her to Botswana. She informed the Acting Speaker that the Canadian Chapter of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association proposes to visit the Parliament of Botswana in the next fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2023.

Ms. Dawson shared that, this will be a wonderful opportunity for exchange of best practices considering the similarities between the two countries such as; the multiparty democracy and very similar style of Parliaments. She thanked the Acting Speaker for the kind reception.

The Acting Speaker assured her that, Parliament of Botswana will be more than happy to receive their counterparts from Canada.