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.