Botswana: Parliament Approves Extension of State of Public Emergency

Parliament has approved the extension of the State of Public Emergency by a further six months through a vote, which saw 41 legislators voting in the affirmative, 16 discordant, one abstaining while six were absent.

This follow a motion by Vice President and Leader of House, Mr Slumber Tsogwane calling on Parliament to grant the President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi the extension of State of Public Emergency under the provision of Section 17 of the constitution.

The objective of the extension, Mr Tsogwane said, was to further allow the country sufficient time and legal leverage in the covid-19 containment and control and mobilise resources timely to deal with the potential rising number of cases and to have uninterrupted disease containment.

Meanwhile, opposition MPs challenged the proposal to extend state of emergency arguing that the it will further increase draw Batswana to the deed end of poverty.

Nkange MP,Dr Never Tshabang said the curb on COVID 19 transmission was solely dependent on increasing public education rather than imposing on the public.

Dr Tshabang indicated that a further increase of the state of emergency would have an impact on high cases of corruption.

He said it was evident that the state of emergency resulted in lockdowns, which led to an increase in poverty in many homesteads as many Batswana were restricted to their homes.

Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi called on Parliament to find means to strengthen the public health systems and Public Health Act rather extending the state of emergency.

Mr Mmolotsi said public health objectives could only be achieved within a highly-functioning and resilient health care system with effective primary care delivery.

He said public health capacities at regional and international levels were also important, but national capacities were the foundation of an effective global health risk framework particularly in times of pandemics.

Government, therefore he said must take responsibility for building an effective public health system and be prepared to be held accountable, both by its own people and by the international community.

Bobonong MP, Mr Taolo Lucas also dismissed the extension of the state of emergency, saying outbreaks could not be effectively contained if national health systems were not capacitated.

He said government needed to capacity to identify an outbreak and establish an alert system to trigger response rather than relying on the state of emergency.

Mr Lucas urged Parliament to work to develop real-time detection and response systems, prioritising elements that reinforced prevention and enable effective response.