12 Mar 2025

Botswana and Türkiye parliaments can broaden their relations through parliamentary diplomacy and initiatives. .

This was said by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse during a courtesy call paid to his office by the Türkiye Ambassador, Mr Ahmet Idem Akay in Gaborone yesterday.

“So, we do want to transform this Parliament, but the biggest impediment is the state of our economy, but we will see which development partner can partner with us. So, this courtesy call will open doors to more discussions on possible areas of cooperation in our quest to democratise,” he said.

Mr Keorapetse further said the former Türkiye Ambassador, Ms Meltem Buyukkarakas had paid a courtesy call on the former National Assembly speaker, Mr Phandu Skelemani in March last year, during which time, the two discussed parliamentary relations between Türkiye and Botswana.

He was hopeful that him and Mr Akay would build on where their predecessors left off.

Also, he said Botswana and Türkiye had enjoyed diplomatic ties for 44 years and the ties were growing in leaps and bounds since the establishment in 1981. 

“I’m well aware that we are currently negotiating to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, especially on the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion and tax avoidance. There is also a memorandum on political consultations and a Memorandum of Agreement between Botswana and Türkiye on Visa waiver for all our diplomatic officials,” he added.

Mr Keorapetse also said the Parliament of Botswana took key in other inter-parliamentary bodies such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organisation of national parliaments that promoted democratic governance, accountability and cooperation among its members.

Also, the Speaker said for the first time, in October 2024, the country experienced a change of government, which had ushered in a renewed hope for a better future and more consolidated democracy in which key institutions, like Parliament, Judiciary and other institutions supporting democracy would be stronger, independent and be able to provide effective oversight.

“So, we’ve been under one political party for 58 years. We’ve now reached maturity as a democracy and we’ve had an implacable record sustaining multi-party democracy. For 58 years we’ve never postponed elections, but, the biggest blemish was that we had a de facto one party state, which won all the 12 elections,” he said.

The current Parliament, Mr Keorapetse said had 70 per cent of its members being new MPs, whilst 36 per cent were young parliamentarians. 

However, the expressed a concern that Parliament was not doing well in terms of women representation, which had dropped from 11 to around nine per cent, with only six women in Parliament.

Fortunately, he said the National Assembly deputy speaker and National Assembly deputy clerk were females, as well as other key positions, in Parliament were held by women. 

Most of the National Assembly challenges, he said could be traced back to the de facto one party state, as it still had challenges in terms of capacity, resources, effectiveness and efficiency as well as its ability to effectively provide oversight to executive.

For his part, Mr Akay commended Botswana on its uninterrupted democracy and stability, saying the country was a true example to Africa and rest of the world.

“Just four months ago, I personally also witnessed this smooth transition from a single party state to a change of government, through a smooth transition. It was a historic moment,” he said.

The Türkiye Embassy, he said was established in Botswana in 2014, adding that Botswana did not have an embassy in Turkey yet but expressed hope that it would be opened in the near future.

In Türkiye, he said parliament was called Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT) and was established on April 23, 1920, which now was an official holiday.

The GNAT, he said had 600 members, elected for a period of five years, and was a member of different assemblies, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which Botswana was also a member of. ENDS