04 Feb 2019

Government will continue to strengthen dissemination of information on Parliament and its operations to a wider audience during 2019/2020 and beyond in an effort to promote participation in democratic process.

Presenting the 2019/2020 Budget Speech yesterday in Gaborone, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo therefore said the National Assembly continued to facilitate public participation through education and outreach programmes as citizen participation in the democratic process was an integral part of good governance.

He said in the exercise of ‘taking Parliament to the people’ which involved the speaker of the National Assembly disseminating information on the operations of Parliament, 12 constituencies across the country were visited.

Meanwhile, Mr Mathambo said to prepare for the national general elections expected later this year, the Independent Electoral Commission undertook initial registration from September to November 2018, which registered 750 965 people of the 1592 350 people.

He nevertheless said there was an ongoing supplementary registration, which started on December 17, 2018 and ends on March.

Furthermore, he stated that the commission continued to engage selected sectors of the society through targeted workshops, including people living with disabilities, the faith sector, women, media, trade unions, among others. Ends