The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Dithapelo L. Keorapetse expressed his hopes that, the Turkish Embassy in Botswana and the Parliament of Botswana, build on what their predecessors started. He said this in a courtesy call with the Ambassador of Turkey to Botswana, HE. Mr. Ahmet Idem AKAY this morning.
Honourable Keorapetse shared that the two countries have enjoyed their diplomatic ties for 44 years now and that since their establishment they have grown in leaps and bounds. He said that he is aware of the negotiations surrounding the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the elimination of double taxation concerning taxes and the prevention of tax evasion and tax avoidance between Turkey and Botswana. He also noted the one on Political consultations and the memorandum of agreement on VISA waiver for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.
When moving to the current Parliament, the Speaker of the National Assembly said the 13th Parliament is unique in various ways. He explained that it is the first Parliament after the first change of government as Botswana has been under one party for 58 years. βWe have now matured as a democracy. We have sustained multiparty democracy for 58 years, and have never postponed elections, but the biggest blemish was that we had a de facto one-party state that won all the 12 elections, but for the first time in October 2024, we had that first change of government β, he said. He went on to say this has come with a renewed hope for a better future, a hope for a more consolidated democracy in which key institutions like Parliament and Judiciary, the institutions supporting democracy, will be stronger, independent and will be able to provide that effective oversight.
Sharing the uniqueness of the current Parliament in terms of its composition, Hon. Speaker said 70% of its members are new Members of Parliament, 36% borrowing from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) standards are young parliamentarians. He shared that on the downside, Botswana is not doing well on women's representation because it has dropped from 11% to 9%. He however said, fortunately, the Deputy Speaker is a female as well as the Deputy Clerk. He further said we have other key positions in Parliament held by women.
The Speaker alluded to the challenges of the National Assembly, citing that most of them can be traced back to the de facto one-party state he mentioned earlier. He mentioned that there are still challenges in capacity, in terms of resources, effectiveness, and efficiency, and also in terms of its ability to be able to provide oversight over the Executive. βParliament has a small library, a small research unit. We need more of our staff members and Members of Parliament to be capacitated. The committees are not yet where we would expect them to be, where we have expert advisors. We are hoping for more collaboration in that regard and in resourcing our Research Unit β, he said. The Speaker also hopes that they will have Parliamentary Diplomacy initiatives and efforts that will be able to further broaden the relations between the Parliament of Botswana and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
HE. Mr. Ahmet Idem AKAY conveyed his congratulations to Botswana for the peaceful transition of governance and said that he was fortunate to personally witness the transition and said it was indeed a historic moment. He congratulated the Speaker for being elected to the office of the Speakership. He stated that in todayβs international relations, Parliamentary Diplomacy is also critical. He reiterated that Botswana and Turkey relations come a long way, even though they only opened the embassy in Gaborone in 2014. He went on to share that he is the third resident Turkish Ambassador to serve in Botswana since establishing an office here. He further mentioned that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was first opened on the 23rd of April 1920 and that today the day is a national holiday in Turkey. The Ambassador cited that the mutual exchange between the two Parliaments can be explored and indicated that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has nominated a Chairperson, a Member of Parliament, to head the Turkey-Botswana Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group initiative and that they are ready to develop the friendship group with the Parliament of Botswana.
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The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Dithapelo L. Keorapetse expressed his hopes that, the Turkish Embassy in Botswana and the Parliament of Botswana, build on what their predecessors started. He said this in a courtesy call with the Ambassador of Turkey to Botswana, HE. Mr. Ahmet Idem AKAY this morning.
Honourable Keorapetse shared that the two countries have enjoyed their diplomatic ties for 44 years now and that since their establishment they have grown in leaps and bounds. He said that he is aware of the negotiations surrounding the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the elimination of double taxation concerning taxes and the prevention of tax evasion and tax avoidance between Turkey and Botswana. He also noted the one on Political consultations and the memorandum of agreement on VISA waiver for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.
When moving to the current Parliament, the Speaker of the National Assembly said the 13th Parliament is unique in various ways. He explained that it is the first Parliament after the first change of government as Botswana has been under one party for 58 years. βWe have now matured as a democracy. We have sustained multiparty democracy for 58 years, and have never postponed elections, but the biggest blemish was that we had a de facto one-party state that won all the 12 elections, but for the first time in October 2024, we had that first change of government β, he said. He went on to say this has come with a renewed hope for a better future, a hope for a more consolidated democracy in which key institutions like Parliament and Judiciary, the institutions supporting democracy, will be stronger, independent and will be able to provide that effective oversight.
Sharing the uniqueness of the current Parliament in terms of its composition, Hon. Speaker said 70% of its members are new Members of Parliament, 36% borrowing from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) standards are young parliamentarians. He shared that on the downside, Botswana is not doing well on women's representation because it has dropped from 11% to 9%. He however said, fortunately, the Deputy Speaker is a female as well as the Deputy Clerk. He further said we have other key positions in Parliament held by women.
The Speaker alluded to the challenges of the National Assembly, citing that most of them can be traced back to the de facto one-party state he mentioned earlier. He mentioned that there are still challenges in capacity, in terms of resources, effectiveness, and efficiency, and also in terms of its ability to be able to provide oversight over the Executive. βParliament has a small library, a small research unit. We need more of our staff members and Members of Parliament to be capacitated. The committees are not yet where we would expect them to be, where we have expert advisors. We are hoping for more collaboration in that regard and in resourcing our Research Unit β, he said. The Speaker also hopes that they will have Parliamentary Diplomacy initiatives and efforts that will be able to further broaden the relations between the Parliament of Botswana and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
HE. Mr. Ahmet Idem AKAY conveyed his congratulations to Botswana for the peaceful transition of governance and said that he was fortunate to personally witness the transition and said it was indeed a historic moment. He congratulated the Speaker for being elected to the office of the Speakership. He stated that in todayβs international relations, Parliamentary Diplomacy is also critical. He reiterated that Botswana and Turkey relations come a long way, even though they only opened the embassy in Gaborone in 2014. He went on to share that he is the third resident Turkish Ambassador to serve in Botswana since establishing an office here. He further mentioned that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was first opened on the 23rd of April 1920 and that today the day is a national holiday in Turkey. The Ambassador cited that the mutual exchange between the two Parliaments can be explored and indicated that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has nominated a Chairperson, a Member of Parliament, to head the Turkey-Botswana Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group initiative and that they are ready to develop the friendship group with the Parliament of Botswana.