Botswana Congress Party President Dumelang Saleshando said Oct. 13 that his party will submit a private members’ bill on freedom of information when parliament opens next month, according to a media report.
The FOI measure will be one of two bills to be pushed by the minority party, the other being one on HIV/AIDS and employment discrimination.
Saleshando said his party knows that the Botswana Democratic Party may use its numerical strength to reject BCP bills, saying, “This will not deter us from the task we have set for ourselves for it is only a matter of time before the BDP occupies the opposition benches.” He said that the national Vision 2016 calls for the introduction of the law on access to information and also that the BCP-BAM Manifesto for the 2009 General Elections promises the formulation of the law.
According to Saleshando: “Parliamentary support staff, through the office of the attorney general, has provided a draft of the law in a manner that is consistent with the formulation of bills in Botswana. I will be meeting different stakeholders to consider the draft and fine tune it to align it with international best practice.”
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