Maun West Member of Parliament, Tawana Moremi says he is not amused by the recent spate of incidents where older men have sex with children, in the process impregnating them. He said such children are not only robbed of their childhood, but are also denied the right to their life choices.
Addressing a kgotla meeting at Kubung ward on Monday, Moremi said men should take it upon themselves to keep hold of their self-respect so that society and children alike may see them as protectors instead of perpetrators. He urged men to guard against each other and help discourage all wrongdoing so that girl children may have the chance to make own choices and pave a way for their future. Vulnerable as they may seem, he said children should be protected at all cost and be made to feel free from time to time so that they may be able to differentiate between right and wrong, thus enabling them to always be on alert and report their abusers without fear. He commended President Ian Khama for having shown concern as regards to the recent Sebina village saga at some of the kgotla meetings he held recently.
“However I couldn’t understand exactly why he made mention that the controversial councilor is not the only one who had committed the offence thus far. He should have left that one out and stood his ground to condemn the abuse without showing his softer side because I believe the offence committed is a very sensitive one and in that way perpetrators shouldn’t feel pampered. Men should come to their right senses and do right”, he said.
At the meeting, residents expressed concern at the length of time allocated for fishing. They also demanded to know why their fishing licenses have been revoked as well as why the processing of new licenses seems to be taking a long time. Because of the deadly Foot and Mouth Disease detected in most parts of Ngamiland, they said fishing is now the only alternative which they had hoped would take them out of poverty.
New regulations are making it look impossible, they said.
The fishing season in Ngamiland usually starts on the 1st of April up to 31st December to allow for fish breeding.
In response, the Member of Parliament stated that he was equally surprised by the new turn of events, where decisions are taken without the input of people on the ground.
“I fail to understand why and how some decisions are met. I think it’s about time these policy makers make decision based on the level of information they have because otherwise the way they handle issues currently does not make any sense. I personally feel some of these issues should be decentralized so as to allow conclusions on certain matters to be made at regional level by the regional leadership as they are on the ground and therefore might know better”.
