Report on consultative meeting held with local authorities in Boteti North constituency (Rakops)

Kgosi Kopano Mabona welcomed all to the meeting.

It was an honour to have in our midst the representative from Ntlo ya Dikgosi (NYD); Kgosi Oreagetse Machilidza, the area MP, Honourable Tsogwane, District Officer (Administration), Ms Precious Maoto and Honourable Councillors and Dikgosi from various villages in the Boteti North Constituency. We also had Village Extension Teams’ (VET) Chairpersons, Village Development Committees’ (VDC) Chairpersons and Secretaries, church representatives, as well as people from various support groups.

All local authorities were represented and they came in numbers, which was a very good sign to the team.

Ms Kgaoganang, who is also the Coordinator of the Botswana Speaks project, from Botswana Parliament presented the project to the local authorities.

She informed the meeting that the project is a multiple parliamentary initiative co-funded by SIDA.  She informed them about the various stakeholders involved in the project such as Parliament of Botswana, Gov2u (Belgium), eGovlab (Sweden, University of Stockholm), and the Swedish Trade Council.

She stated that during the launch of the Project in October 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Clerk of the National Assembly representing Parliament of Botswana and Chairman, Board of Directors representing these organisations.

She said the project will be piloted in four constituencies, and then later rolled out to other constituency offices. She explained how the project is going to work; that the electorates or the youth will be able to get connected to their elected MPs via internet or using cellphones.

Basically the presentation covered issues like; why the project is introduced, who will take part in the project? The objectives and benefits of introducing the project. How long the project?

The presentation was very detailed, and the audience proved to have grasped everything that was said; looking at the type of comments they made and questions they asked.

The discussions were very lively and quite interesting. The local authorities showed that they are willing to give the project a chance and will do anything in their capacity to see it succeed.