Two days into the coveted seat as vice president, Ponatshego Kedikilwe was on Friday confronted with the mammoth task of reigning in truant members of parliament as the Speaker of the House absolved herself of blame and piled the mess on the new leader of the House.
The majority of MP’s did not make it to parliament in the morning, nearly causing postponement as there was no quorum.
Shoshong MP Philip Makgalemele raised the alarm over the trend as more and more MPs missed parliamentary sitting.
“This trend has been going on for sometime now and worse still implicates regular certain persons.
They should know they came into this House voluntarily. It is not my job to tend them into the House,” said Margaret Nasha. “This behavior lies with the leader of the House, the leader of the opposition and the whips from both sides of the House.”
Kedikilwe promised to clean up the House as soon as possible, calling for a meeting with his colleagues at the earliest certainly next week.
“We should show some seriousness in this matter, particularly that there are many motions that lie ahead,” said Kedikilwe.
While the leader of opposition, Dumelang Saleshando, would acknowledge the wisdom of Kedikilwe, Gaborone North West MP Robert Masitara called for stern measures, to the boos from his colleagues.
Nasha invited the MP’s to forward the names of the known regular culprits who are supposed to be drilled on absenteeism.
