The Judiciary is a necessary component of any State. The Botswana judiciary has served the nation well and maintained independence for years. In our view, the judiciary in its current form is reputable enough.
Government has however proposed a new addition to the nation’s judiciary – The Constitutional Court. The following is the BDP position on this proposal:
1. Batswana know their priorities and they ought to have been thoroughly consulted before commencement of the Bill. In 2023 and 2024, the BDP government undertook a constitutional review process that commenced with countrywide consultations. Many criticised the process as flawed. The current government’s approach is in our view worse, and they must therefore learn from past experience. Consultations should have commenced before the Bill was tabled in parliament.
2. The public purse is already strained as evidenced by shortage of medicines, occassional late payment of old age pensions, delayed payments to suppliers etc. Therefore, the Constitutional Court, which will come at an additional yet to be disclosed cost, would add another burden on the nation’s coffers, when on the other hand Batswana are already not getting the best service and policy implementation from the government.
3. The piece-meal approach is not advisable. Government should have undertaken a holistic review of the entire constitution. The way we see it, the current process is a waste of money because yet another consultation process will have to be held later when the promised Comprehensive Constitutional Review is undertaken, if ever it will happen. Government has put the cart before the horse.
4. Constitutional matters have been argued and concluded before within our current judicial system eg. Unity Dow vs Attorney General 1992 (Unity Dow Case), Letsweletse Motshediemang vs Attorney General 2019 (Same-sex relations decriminalisation case) etc. Therefore, in our view there is no immediate need to rush into the creation of a constitutional court.
Conclusion;
The BDP does not support the creation of the Constitutional Court at this present time because;
* There are currently more pressing priorities eg. Medicines and medical supplies.
* Batswana were not properly consulted before tabling the far-reaching Bill in parliament.
• The nation’s coffers are already strained.
• Our courts have in the past ably dealt with Constitutional matters.
The constitutional court cannot, therefore, be a priority at this present time.
